Minecraft: Story Mode
by Lilting Lithium
Summary: Jesse and her friends just wanted to win the building competition at EnderCon, but a series of events leads to them finding something horrible. They must set out on a journey to bring the Order of the Stone members back together and save their world from oblivion. Female Jesse, MC:SM retelling.
1. Chapter 1

minecraft fanfiction? in my 2019? its more likely than you think.

hey wats up. i played mc:am on netflix and it was so bad. it was so fucking bad and i loved it so much. anyway i noticed the lack of multichapter novelizations of the game ft female jesse (if you know of some good ones hmu), and sort of started writing and then the first chapter just flowed out. i really loved jesse's voice actress too. patton oswald was great as their male voice actor too but i loved the almost valley girl sort of lilt that female jesse has to her voice sometimes. you dont see it a lot in characters who have the role of main hero in a fantasy adventure story.

anyway this isnt as much as a novelization as it a retelling. im going to be following the story and dialogue for the most part, there will definitely be changes because the storys a little weak and the characters could have been really great if they'd worked with them a bit more. so stuff like that. ive also taken a lot of liberties with the game mechanics. crafting and players' inventory work sort of like a magic system, though it hasnt really been touched on in what ive got written so far and i dont think it will be, i think i'll just sort of keep it a passive type thing. i thought itd be nice to set it in fall because 1, i just really love fall, and 2 its fall atm so its like a fun little thing.

this is red hair clip jesse, but you can visualize her however you want. i do have some descriptions of her in here but you should be good otherwise. honestly, this is a very quasi-red hair clip jesse. their clothing color is different and she changes shirts in chapter 4 for reasons that will remain unnamed. you can imagine this as all blockey or you can imagine this as more realistic, which is what i had in mind while writing. some face claims would probably help but again, i dont see this thing getting a lot of traction lmao. it just felt like a waste to spend so much time writing a multi chapter fic and not post it. idk the update schedule yet but ill figure it out probably.

romance wont be a main factor in this but pairings are up for grabs. i have an end game ship in mind but just know that there wont be any major age gap ships or axel/jesse or olivia/jesse no matter how cosey they may seem. theyre just bffs who all love each other a whole lot and i really like the whole aspect i have going on with them.

last thing: im aware my writing isnt all that good, and ask that if you give and constructive criticism you take it easy on me, bc im genuinely trying here hgkhgkjh. like i know i tend to over describe things and make stuff more complicated sounding than it really is but im really trying i promise

alright so this A/N has been going on for a while now, i'll quit talking and just let the story start

TL;DR: mcsm was super bad but i loved it also i am bad at writing but i am trying my best lol

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In the protected lands around Beacontowner there was a tree house built over a thick oak, its creaking branches stretching out and tangling with the surrounding forest. The teak-brown timber was a wooded, shaded haven crowded with native plants. Gnarled roots that wove through the dirt like snakes collected tangles of weeds and clusters of cup mushrooms.

The first floor of the treehouse was small; crowded, with clothes strewn over the floor and three low hanging hammocks varying in size and material. Each hung by a cramped window, the sunlight that cut through the leaves outside casting a watery light across the room from the lumpy sheet glass.

Through the trapdoor above was an arid, sunny cabin. The interior contained a collection of banners and painted flyers aligned evenly over the walls. There was a medium-sized hay bale wedged into a corner with a small, handmade water trough; both placed over a threadbare towel covered in discarded carrot tops.

A dented empty armor stand, bare aside from an obscenely large carved pumpkin wedged over the top, was set next to a compact seating area. The space was warmed by an old furnace fashioned into an oven and open heat source, giving the room a smokey, nutty aroma. Across from the kiln were two chests, both set around a workstation dotted with dusty red fingerprints that caught the light in subtle shimmers.

The sound of wood connecting against wood carried out an open window of the top floor, accompanied by grunts of exertion and the occasional very dramatic battle-cry. Inside, a pair of dark calloused hands idly spun a small draw-string bag with R. Dust neatly stitched into the front with crimson embroidery around their fingers.

Thick, natural hair tied into pigtails skimmed the surface of a red tunic with bronze clasps down the right side covering a thin, white shirt. Brown boots with protective gray padding tapped boredly against the floor, their owner leaning against the open window and looking out at the rising sun. Setting the tiny sack down, she turned towards the noise, watching another girl hash it out with the armor stand. Exhaling loudly, she once more glanced out the window, tapping her fingernails against the framework. Dark skin illuminated by the morning glow contrasted harshly against silvery round earrings, large enough that they nicely framed her wide face. She pulled her lips together in thought before speaking up.

"Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies," She turned to the room's other occupant, "Or ten zombie sized chickens?"

The second girl paused momentarily before continuing at a much less frenzied pace, thinking.

"Just to be clear, you wouldn't have any weapons or armor. So you'd have to fight them with your hands." She made grabby motions with her fingers.

The other held her sword still, brown eyes meeting brown and faintly shaking her head as she answered. "I'd have to go with the giant chickens. Not because I want to or because I think it would be easy, but because they would be an _abomination_."

And then she was back on the dummy, the splintered wooden stand looking ready to collapse and fall apart from exhaustion with any hit.

"Imagine their giant feet—"

"Like I said, an abomination." She playfully narrowed her eyes at the other.

"So you're only in it to see a town get destroyed. I see. I'm making a mental note of this for later, Jesse. Just so you know."

"I didn't even say anything close to that, Olivia."

"It was heavily implied. But don't worry, this secret is safe behind these iron locked lips." Olivia made a zipping motion over her mouth, frowning when Jesse gave a snort of laughter.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"You can't hold a secret for your life, 'Liv. Like, you know this, so like why did you even say that?" She asked, biting the inside of her cheek in mirth.

"Yes, I can!"

Jesse continued to snicker, getting back into position with her sword when her pants—well, overalls, fell around her feet, leaving her standing in a thin pair of breeches. She sighed, slowly leaning her wooden blade against the wall and looking down at the denim, then up to Olivia with a face that said 'you should feel bad for me.'

The other girl only crossed her arms and gave her friend a withering look. "Please just use that belt I gave you already."

"It makes me look bad." She whined.

"Yeah, but one day that's gonna happen in public and no one's going to believe you when you tell them those are pants. It just looks like you're trying to wear Axel's long underwear."

"Okay, one? Gross. Two, _these?_ Are clearly pants. I am clearly just wearing pants. Some red pants. _On_ my body."

"Shin length is long-john length, Jesse. Just accept that you're wearing two pairs of underwear." She teased.

Jesse sent her a glare, bending down and roughly pulling her light blue, nearly gray, overalls back over her knee-length pants and securing the hooks over her chest. In hindsight, haphazardly tying the loops together around her middle had been a poor choice. Dusting off the denim, she reached down to the crooked pant cuffs, rolling them up to their proper place just above her ankles.

Shaking out her brown hair, she accidentally dislodged her red hair clip and sent it across the room. No longer pinned back, her hair took advantage of the new freedom to drape over her face. Olivia stepped up from where the clip had skidded to a stop at her feet, taking Jesse's hand and pressing it into her palm. She closed Jesse's fingers over it, giving her hand a light pat.

"Thanks," Jesse said as she dropped the accessory into her overall pockets, futilely puffing air at the strands overtaking her face

Using two fingers, Olivia pushed the dark locks open like a curtain to reveal Jesse's olive-toned face, giving her an apologetic look.

"I was only messing with you."

"I know." She said, taking the hairband Olivia offered and throwing her head forwards, pulling her hair into a ponytail. "I would probably hate you if you weren't so lovable and nice, and a genuinely good person… But you're _very_ annoying."

"Weird that I was just about to say the same to you." Olivia shot back, smiling. She closed the distance between herself and the open window, leaning her lower back against the sill and letting the mid-morning chill wash over her.

Jesse, on the other hand, had picked up the training sword and went right back to duking it out with the jack-o'-lantern. She was working out right next to the furnace, despite having crowned herself the sweatiest person alive over the summer and decreeing all heat was illegal. She kept adjusting her deep yellow, half-placket linen shirt; all four buttons undone and long sleeves pushed up her arm as she pulled at the collar to vent the hot air out. Olivia thought about saying something to her—that she could just move the dummy away from the furnace or take her overalls off, but remained silent. She figured the other girl would work it out on her own eventually.

"So. Abominations aside, why don't we put some focus on those one hundred chicken-sized zombies." Olivia piped up, watching Jesse bounce from one bare foot to the next in front of the pumpkin like it had personally offended her. "What was your verdict on those then, just not abominable enough?

"The little tiny… little zombies? Those are easy." She made a vague waving gesture like she was shooing the idea away.

"A _hundred_ of them. Crawling all over you. With their tiny hands."

"Okay, yeah? And?" She prompted, but Olivia was already slinking over, badly imitating a zombie and wiggling her fingers up Jessie's back, ducking out of the way with a laugh when Jesse spun and began delivering slap after slap from the flat side of her blunt weapon.

"_Do_ not do that!" She yelled, despite her grin.

Giggling, Olivia had sat on the ground with arms crossed over legs. "Well? Tiny little zombies. One hundred of them, to be exact. Answer the question."

"What is the question supposed to be again?" Jesse asked, tone one of light exasperation.

"Your thought process behind what you decided. Specifically the choice you didn't take."

"I told you—"

"Answer cannot be they aren't abominations." She cut her off quickly, "Which I disagree with more than I can put into words, but we can put that discussion on hold for now. Save it for another time; let it age like a fine wine."

"Fair." Jesse nodded in agreement. She lowered her sword, resting the balls of her hands over the pommel. "The chicken sized zombies—"

"A hundred of them."

"A hundred of them." She nodded, pausing. "...I mean… all I'd need is like, a shovel."

"It'd be that easy?" Olivia had started making zombie noises at her again from her position on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm telling you, _way_ too easy."

Olivia rolled her eyes and Jesse blew short a raspberry in her direction, turning her focus back to practicing her forms and sweating her soul out.

"_Sooo,_ I've got the daylight sensor on the roof…" Olivia began, standing and walking to one of the various paper sugarcane lanterns set around the room. She laid down a redstone wire, connecting the last of the light source to the roof sensor she'd spent most of yesterday rewiring down into the tree house.

"Mh-hmm?"

"And If I did this right, these redstone lamps should turn on once it gets dark."

"Mh-hmm."

"Solar powered and everything, so no need to worry again about old, smokey torches or the price of lantern oil again!" She said excitedly, focused on pressing the dusty, string-like red wire into corners for a tidier appearance. "Plus, I didn't want to just leave Reuben here in the dark while we're at Endercon—"

"Um, he's coming with us?" Jesse stopped and looked to Olivia with an arched eyebrow. It had been less of a question and more of a statement.

Reuben, at the sound of his name, awoke with a bolt and jumped down from his warm little nook of pillows Jesse had stacked for him around the middle of their old tweed couch. He landed as ungracefully as any pig could manage and ran headfirst into the armor-stand with a surprised snort. The smiling pumpkin skewered over the spot meant for a helmet bobbed precariously, and Jesse shot forward, grabbing its sides to hold it in place. She peeked over her shoulder at Olivia, giving a sheepish look.

"Really?" Olivia asked. This could have been a reaction to one of two things. It could have been directed at Reuben or directed at her. Or both of those combined. Jesse decided on the latter, just to be safe.

"Yes _really_. What kind of question is that? Of course he's coming."

"Okay, I'm not saying he shouldn't come. I'm not!" Olivia held up her hands defensively at the other's tone. "I mean it's—don't you think it's a little weird that you take him with you everywhere you go?"

Jesse had popped the top off the carved pumpkin and was on her haunches, feeding it to Reuben who had rolled to his back and was kicking his short legs in delight, her sword forgotten on the floor behind her. Olivia cocked her hip, crossed her arms, and waited for Jesse to come back from pig-land.

It was only when her distraction heightened to her tickling his stomach and cooing _"Sweet boy, my handsome boy, the chubby baby—_" That Olivia loudly cleared her throat. Jesse froze and looked at her like a kid caught in the act of doing something bad, dropping the piece of pumpkin and standing up like she hadn't just been absolutely lost in the sauce of having a cute pig in her near vicinity.

"Do you not see yourself?" The pitch of Olivia's voice had risen drastically. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Jesse. He sort of makes us look like, I don't know. Amateurs?"

"People love pigs, Olivia! Reuben's totally my wing man."

"I'm being serious!"

"I am too! People always want to talk to the girl with the pig."

"You mean talked _about_ the girl with the pig. Like, _look at the weird girl with the weird pig. How weird."_

Jesse had moved to the fat, cobblestone windowsill Reuben had perched himself on, said pig's ears flapping in the motion of looking between the two and chewing bits of pumpkin that were stuffed in his bulging cheeks, causing him to drool. Jesse looked down and smiled, giving him a short pat over his soft ears, smoothing them back.

"Reuben's my best friend."

"I thought _I_ was your best friend."

"Well—_both_ of you are! You're both my best friends! Axel's my best friend, you're my best friend, Reuben's my best friend. I have three best friends and there's no law against that." She said with a tone of finality. Olivia smiled back after a few moments, sighing.

"I didn't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming." She walked over and ran her fingernails under his chin, yanking her arm away with a disgusted noise when he inadvertently slobbered over her wrist. She looked over at Jesse who was trying not to laugh, and smiled. "I know that wasn't exactly a fight but more of a disagreement—but still, friends?"

"Friends." Jesse shoved her shoulder playfully, receiving one double the force in return followed by Olivia wiping her wet wrist over Jesse's shirt.

"Hey! You know this stuff doesn't come out!"

Olivia snickered, grabbing Reuben who had thankfully finished swallowing moments before with a _"Yoink!"_ and diving for the couch to avoid a shove war. Last time they let that happen, Axel ended up with a bruised rib. He hadn't even been participating.

Jesse picked up her sword and placed it against an empty rack, making her way over and sinking into the lumpy sofa pads with a contented noise. They leaned shoulder to shoulder in silence for a few minutes, Reuben curling up in Olivia's lap, taking in the Autumn air the open window gave passage to. Jesse could hear the faint hum of bees getting in the last of their work before the chill set in if she strained her ears. She could imagine them weaving in and out of the large clusters of Pennyroyal close to their tree house. It was just mint, but Olivia had convinced her Pennyroyal was a much cooler name. She would miss it when it went dormant for the year. No more spider repellent, or minty soaps, or Axel's fresh tea. She swore on her life his tea tasted better when the leaves were heat dried on top of the furnace and dropped straight into a mug of hot water rather than the little bags of air dried, crushed leaves Olivia would help him make. She was outnumbered and outvoted in this opinion, though.

"Turn around?" Jesse suddenly asked, breaking the silence. Olivia smiled, dimples overtaking her cheeks as she complied, turning sideways on the sofa, ignoring the string of annoyed squeals coming from the pig over her crossed legs. She slid off her hat and goggles, swatting away Jesse's hands and pulling her pigtails out herself, hair poofing out upon release. Jesse was not at all good with braiding when it came to Olivia's hair, and they were both well aware of this. She could maybe pull off half a head of sloppy box braids, but that was the extent of her talent in that department.

However, Jessie enjoyed playing with hair, and Olivia enjoyed having hair played with, so it more or less worked out. The former could make a mean French braid, which they decided seemed to work the same for most hair types, granted it was done right.

Olivia slumped her rigid body as Jesse began to work out the stray knots and part her hair as neatly as she could with just her hands, sectioning it off piece by piece to make into twin braids. She hesitated before speaking up.

"Wanna talk?"

Olivia was silent for a long moment, seemingly hesitant herself before she rubbed a hand down the side of her face.

"…I just don't wanna give people one more reason to call use losers." Olivia finally said, releasing a gust of air from her lungs like she'd been physically holding her words back. "I'm getting tired of it. I'm tired of being a laughing stock."

"Who cares what other people think?"

"I know. I'm just… It wears you down." She leaned her elbow against the back of the sofa directly to her right, resting her head into her hand while being careful of Jesse's own hands working through her hair.

"_Embrace_ being a loser, Olivia. And if you do that, you can be like, whatever you want to be." She said matter-of-factly, neatly braiding down her scalp and the length of her hair.

"What if I want to be a winner?"

"No, except that. Anything else, though." She said jokingly

Olivia said nothing, but a tiny smile had made it onto her face for a few moments.

Jesse tied off the end of the right braid with the bands Olivia handed to her, tigging its sides outwards to give the strands of hair some breathing room. She took a moment to place a hand over Olivia's shoulder and give a quick squeeze before moving onto the other side of her head.

"We are not losers, Olivia."

"We lose all the time. It's what we _do._"

"Okay, all right, that might be true… but if that's the case _theeeeen_, we win at losing!"

Olivia sighed into a resigned but happy enough sounding laugh. "All right, fine."

"Honestly, you say you're not a loser Olivia, and you really aren't one. You're like, the least uncool person here, and I'm not totally sure why you hang out with us, much less live with us. So go out and show everyone else that." She said.

"You know what? Fine, yeah! I'm going to _win!_ If only just to spite life; spite it for thinking it can do this to us just to get its kicks."

"Yeah 'Liv! That's the spirit!" She cheered, snapping the second and final hair tie into place. Jesse sat back, looking over the surprisingly well-matched braids with a single satisfactory clap of her hands.

"I think I do decree these braids done."

Olivia turned, smiling warmly at her. "Thanks. For more than just the braids."

"You're welcome." She said, poking the other's back.

Olivia grabbed her hat and goggles, pulling both over her head in one fluid motion. She pulled one of the braids over her shoulder and inspected it. She shrugged her shoulders as she raised her eyebrows, "Not bad, Jesse. Definitely better than last time."

"We said we wouldn't bring that back up—"

A deep hissing noise made both of them stop, muscles frozen as they sat suspended in their movements like statues. Reuben trilled nervously, wide awake and swiveling his head every which way in alarm. The small hairs covering his body stood on end.

"Do you hear that?" Jesse said slowly, cautiously standing and circling around the hatch, keeping her front to the trapdoor at all times as she backed up towards their dusty weapons rack, reaching behind her and grabbing its single occupant. A wooden training sword was better than no sword at all.

Olivia stood with measured movements, gently grabbing Reuben and placing him firmly on the floor. She reached behind her and clutched a pole leaning haphazardly against the wall. It was marked with lines they had burnt into it a few years ago to use as a base of measurement while crafting. She broke it over her knee in a single movement, holding the two pointed ends up.

"How did a Creeper get over the walls! It hasn't even been dark out for a few hours now!" Olivia whispered harshly, knuckles white. Jesse could only shrug helplessly, biting both her lips together.

Reuben ran behind Jesse to the windowsill, wheedling his way under a flattened burlap sack of preserved white clover. Olivia saddled up next to Jesse, copying her stance and dropping to one knee. She looked at her with a nod and Jesse nodded back, holding her sword to the ready.

The latch swung open before they could even reach for it, banging against the floor hard. A green figure with the distinct face of a Creeper rose from the hole with arms out wide and making, in retrospect, a very fake and explicitly non-Creeper sound.

Jessie shrieked and hit it once over the head, immediately dropping the blunt sword and quickly retreating to stand on the top of the sofa. Olivia didn't even use her weapon, instead throwing the sticks at the opposite wall in panic as she screamed and ran across the room to slide behind a crate. Reuben squealed with the same intensity of the two girls, if not louder, scrambling in place before falling straight off the stone surface, practically seizing up and hitting the floor with a thud.

_"AUGH!_ Freakin' _ow,_ you guys!" The green mass cried out, a hand holding the top of its head gingerly, "Jeez-louise, you really got an arm there, Jesse."

Olivia poked her head out from her hiding spot as Jesse slipped and nearly fell behind the askew couch, managing to catch herself in time.

"Axel! You jerk!" Olivia yelled, hitting her fist over the crate she was crouched behind.

"Sustained head injury aside, that was awesome." He laughed nasally, grabbing the mask and pulling the front up to reveal his face, "Tada! You guys totally freaked out—_oof!"_

Reuben head-butted him in the stomach, leaving a wet stamp of his snout and a good amount of post-pumpkin drool behind on the green jacket. Axel had doubled over, his mask sliding off the rest of his head and plopping against the floor in front of him.

Sunlight glinted off the two single brass fasteners that hooked over the front of his parka, pressing down over a line of buttons concealed by a short flap of cloth. He uncurled his body, pulling back the gray, quilted drawstring hood, tousling his thick hair. The hood's neckline piled high around his collar practically hid the entirety of his neck, the thick drawstrings faded and frayed. It was visibly old and well-loved, puckered lines of past repairs and mend jobs covered the woolen fabric like scars. A matching pair of fingerless cloth gloves covered his palms and simple water damaged leather sandals were strapped across his feet and over the back of each ankle. His reddish, torn, shin-length pants completed his Homeless Man Couture ensemble.

Jesse climbed down from the sofa as Olivia rounded on him, "What is the matter with you?!"

"I brought you good times and I'm being punished for it?" He held his hands out, face set in a frown. He looked down for his mask but his slobbered front caught his attention. "Great, now this thing is gonna have pig stank on it. Reuben, you know this stuff's impossible to wash out, I thought we were buddies. Why does this smell like pumpkin? You know—"

"You scared us half to death!" Olivia slapped the front of his chest to bring his attention back.

Jesse picked up the mask from the floor and looked it over. There was the same illusion of a Creeper's patchy, crusty skin from some seriously good crocheting. She could hardly see any stitching unless she turned it inside out. Axel deserved major props for this. Not that she would ever subject him to the unbridled horror that is being complimented on his own talent for needlework and cross-stitching, revealing that his "Secret Hobby" had never been secret to begin with. She got the feeling sometimes he even forgot it was apparently supposed to be confidential information.

"Axel, this mask is_ amazing."_

"It is, isn't it?" He said with a grunt, pulling the rest of himself up into the second floor. He took the mask back from her outstretched hand.

"Yeah, super convincing. I really thought you were a Creeper for a good second."

"I noticed." He rubbed the top of his head and not so subtly looked down at the wooden sword that brushed against the heel of his sandal from where it lay on the floor. Jesse winced.

"Uh, yeah… I'm really sorry about that. At least Olivia didn't attack you with what she had." Jesse looked to the sharp sticks laying innocently on the ground at the opposite side of the room. Axel followed her gaze.

"Aw man, was that our ruler? What d'ya do that for, Olivia?"

"I mean, it was a pretty appropriate reaction." Jesse quickly cut in at the sight of Olivia staring at him with her hands on her hips, looking cool and collected but with a harsh glint of murdur in her eyes.

"Well, broken rulers and skulls aside, the looks on your faces was worth it. I had no clue you two could scream that high—"

"Did you bring the fireworks?" Olivia interrupted, done and ready to move on from this conversation.

"Of course I did." Axel made a show of directing her attention to the deep, bulging pockets roughly stitched into his jacket. He walked over to Reuben, leaning down to pat his back "I even brought something for the little guy."

With a flourish, he pulled two dark items out from underneath the front of his hoodie. The two purple bundles of cloth popped back into their original shapes: A set of felt wings and a second crocheted mask, this one supported with flexible wire. Judging by the dull circles under his eyes, he likely had hours poured into making it into a clean-cut, simplified replica of the Ender Dragon's head.

"Nice!"

"You brought Reuben a disguise?" Olivia asked incredulously.

"Um, we're going to a convention, somebody's gotta wear a costume."

Axel shifted onto one knee, waving Reuben over and helping him step into the wings' harness. Jesse jumped over to help, barely containing herself, but was shooed away with a chuckle. Double checking the tightness of the soft straps to make sure no chaffing occurred, he nodded and grabbed the Dragon head from his right and slid Reuben's own into the opening. Only his snout was visible from the faux mouth, the hinged jaw bobbing with every movement made.

Olivia glanced at Jesse, who looked close to tears, and snorted. "You are such a mom."

Reuben shook his body, the unfamiliar feeling of the harness taking a moment to settle. It took less than thirty seconds later for the room to fill with muffled squeals of glee as he circled the space. He was jumping over furniture, the dragon's jaw oscillating and wings flapping with every bounce, attempting to mimic a roar more than once. He stopped and jumped onto a low bookshelf next to a poster for Endercon with a painted rendition of the Ender Dragon's head, comparing the image to his own shadow.

Jesse was melodramatically leaning over Olivia, who looked resigned to her current fate. "I can't believe you did this, he looks amazing… like, he looks so good. My handsome boy."

"Oh, well thank you."

"She meant Reuben, Axel."

"Ah."

The pig jumped down and leaned against Axel's legs with tiny oink; a thank you.

"I mean it only took, like, a million hours to make it. You see these eye bags?"

"All right, all right." Olivia said, addressing not only Axel but Jesse as well who was beginning to lay her entire weight over her, "Axel, you did a great job, and Jesse; if you don't get off me, I will let you fall."

"Gravity… Increasing on me…" She bent back farther over her friend, feet sliding against the floor.

"Oh no, we are not doing this again!" Olivia was almost crouching, "Axel, would you like to intervene, maybe?"

"Hah, no I'm good." He watched the two with amusement, stopping when he caught Olivia's glare and blanched. "Oh, that was a rhetorical question, okay."

"I am bedrock, I cannot be move." Jesse said with an arm over her eyes, Olivia looking ready to collapse.

Axel walked over and picked Jesse up, her arms pinned to her sides as she was held out. He was grinning, "I have a pun that I think fits this, but I can't get an idea of where exactly to apply it."

"Please don't."

"How about, _you are no longer set in stone?"_ He said, ignoring Jesse who had begun to groan loudly in his hands, kicking her feet, "Get it, because I moved you, and _set in stone,_ and you said you were bedrock. I don't know if bedrock is a stone, though. It does have the word rock in it, so maybe like—how about if you were just obsidian, instead? It would make this a lot easier."

Jesse went limp in his hold, muttering, "I'm going to pretend to be dead… and that you were the one that killed me… 'till I am put down."

She stuck her tongue out to the side with a _"Bleh,"_ closing her eyes.

"Well, if you're dead than I guess it won't hurt any if I dropped you on the floor." He said, moving to hold her horizontally and raising her up.

"Wait what—"

She screeched when there was a sudden absence of Axel's hands under her and she was falling. Then just like that he grabbed her out of the air less than two feet from the ground, his snorting laughter in her ear. She punched his shoulder, rolling out of his hold and hitting the floor.

"I thought I told you to never do that again?!" She yelled, pointing at him with an accusatory finger.

"I was told to intervene." Axel shrugged, grinning at Olivia, who shook her head in disbelief.

Jesse sat up on her legs, stroking Reuben's ears when the pig came up behind her and pushed his way under her arm.

"That was awful and I did not deserve it."

"Yeah you did." Olivia smiled, sticking her tongue out. She shifted her focus to Axel, who was also sitting, his legs thrown over the escape latch as he tightened his sandals. "Axel, you definitely brought the fireworks, right?"

"Yep! I'm also ready. Just gonna be waiting on you two." He slid over easily to grip the ladder, his head disappearing down the hole.

"Good, I'm ready too, we've spent enough of the morning up here and I think we're going a little stir-crazy," Olivia said half to Jesse, half to herself. She climbed down the first steps of the ladder, stopping to look at Jesse and Reuben.

"See, _now_ he's your wingman." She said, looking at his wings.

"Stop."

"You know if he were really your best friend, you wouldn't let him go outside dressed like that." Olivia looked over Reuben's costume and then to her. "I know I wouldn't."

"The only thing more dangerous than putting a costume on a pig is trying to take it off." She said ominously.

"Thanks for the sage advice. We'll meet you downstairs, all right? We're pretty early, so go ahead and check that we got everything for me. Just to be on the safe side?"

"Got it." She shot Olivia finger guns with a wink, turning back to Reuben as Olivia vanished down the ladder.

"Alrighty, Reuby-booby, let's get on it." She stood up, stretching her back. She rolled her eyes at the loud whine Reuben made when her fingers left him.

She nonchalantly smelled her clothes, then ponytail, gauging her hygiene and shrugging with one shoulder. "Not that bad. If I get grody enough, I can just chalk it up to you needing a bath."

Reuben looked as offended as he could with his chubby pig face. Jesse smiled, leaning down quickly to pinch his cheeks before he pulled his head away from her hands with an indignant squeal.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry." She held her hands up. Turning and making her way to the couch. She pulled apart the pillow bed, stopping at a second squeal of protest. She grabbed her satchel from its spot among the pillows, looking to the distressed pig, her eyes half-closed.

"Okay, you need to cool it. I can make literally the exact same thing again later tonight, but right now we are going to EnderCon and I need to get this bad boy," She held up and slapped the back of her satchel, "_Ready_ and filled _up_ with any last-minute _things._"

Reuben gave a pathetic oink and sulked over to her, bumping the top of his head against her leg.

"I know bud, I know. Your life's so hard and no one understands." She strapped her bag over her chest and shook it a bit, feeling its weight against her back. She could just put this all in her inventory, but enjoyed the quaint feeling of carrying supplies around in a leather bag.

She'd only packed the basics: Their tickets, some of Axel's jerky wrapped tightly in a square of old cloth, Olivia's sun dried peach slices drawn up with string inside a paper bag, raw chestnuts for Reuben, her own roasted sunflower seeds, an insulated sack of gunpowder in case there were any firework related issues, four reused glass containers of water, and two hand sized bags of Olivia's half smelted, crumbly redstone dust that she rolled into redstone wire herself; It worked infinitely better than any she or Axel could buy or attempt to make.

She thought for a moment before snapping her fingers and jogging to the window], pushing it open and rolling the line of laundry in until she found what she'd been looking for; Olivia's long sleeved white shirt. The other girl had insisted that tonight would be warm, but she was notoriously bad at predicting weather. Jesse folded it up tight and unzipped the side of her bag, reaching back and shoving it inside.

She grabbed her leather boots and pulled them on, closing the window, but not before quickly pulling the rest of the dried laundry out and throwing it into a clump on the couch in case it rained. She patted the back of the satchel, checking for the lump of their small bag of emerald chips, satisfied when she felt it and shook the pack to hear the coins lightly clink against one another.

A glint of light caught her eye from the top of a chest by the work station. Nearly tripping over Reuben, she made a B-line for their crafting table, stopping at the box.

"Hm, flint and steel, not too shabby. What do you think, should we bring it and burn other competitors' builds down?" She looked down at Reuben, pocketing it as he rolled his eyes the best he could behind his mask, which is to say not much.

Thinking a moment, she opened the chest as well, pushing aside a few different things and their small stash of iron nuggets, holding up an item triumphantly, "Shears! Definitely taking these. Never know when I might need to shear me up a sheep."

She removed the shears from the chest and pulled at the leather to check the sharp edges were securely shut together. Jesse barely held in her sigh at the incessant noise Reuben was making for being ignored. "No I am not ignoring you, and no I am not talking to myself, Reuben. Seriously, you're like right next to me, I'm not by myself."

She dropped the shears in one of her front pockets away from the flint. She didn't particularly feel like the two accidentally sparking a fire at any point in the day.

Closing the chest, she was met with a poster of Gabriel the Warrior, painted and signed sloppily by the artist; bought last year at the Con by Axel. Leaning over the chest with her elbows, she stared at the brush stroked face with a _"Hm."_ Tiny clove hooves pitter-pattered against the wood floor behind her and stopped at her heels. She rested her head into a hand, looking to the undersized pig.

"You think we'll ever get that famous?

Reuben only stared at her. Well, from her perspective he more-so just turned his head in the general direction of her voice, his snout was still the only visible part of his face. The opaque, purple eyes hid his own and seemed to work like a two-way mirror. It was almost a little off-putting, Axel had really gone all out.

She took his continued silence as a no. "Hey, it's not impossible. Maybe… maybe we'll get famous for our sweet poster collection."

She stood and tore her attention away from the picture, closing the chest and continuing around the room, checking they had everything they could need. She grabbed their handheld clock, then hesitated before taking her wooden sword and sliding it through the denim tool holder Axel had sewn into her overalls. Lastly, she picked up a fat lump of Olivia's fast burning charcoal from her stash, wrapping it in a thick paper. Better safe than sorry.

Wiping her hands together and placing them on her hips, she took another once over of the room before giving a nod.

Pulling her hair free, she felt around the sheers for her hair clip, fingers brushing against it as she plucked it from her pocket and clipped her hair back in one easy motion. She smiled over at Rueben who had gone to laze near the latch.

"Ready?"

He gave a short oink, raising his head and looking in her direction. She smiled, a quick exhale leaving her nose. Walking over she crouched down onto her knees in front of him.

"Here, let's fix this. It's weird and I miss those little peepers of yours."

A snap of a few buttons and some adjustment later, she was able to shift the mask back so the mouth opened to show his entire face. His eyes turned to little crescent moon smiles as he tapped his feet against the ground at the sight of her smiling face. Maybe he actually hadn't been able to see, she thought mildly.

Hefting Reuben under her arm and receiving a kick in the ribs when she commented on his heaviness, she carefully made her way down the ladder, mindful of his wings. She bypassed the small first floor hidden within the tree's leaves where they slept. The room was crowded and small. Sometimes only Axel slept down there, passed out in his hammock and snoring so loudly he could scare monsters away. They tried not to give him much grief about it; Axel was embarrassed enough about it as it was. Thankfully, Jesse usually fell asleep before Axel and she slept like the dead. Olivia swears on everything there is that one night Jesse began snoring and was giving Axel a run for his money in just how absurdly loud she was being.

She dropped down the last three steps, setting Reuben down and straightening his felt wings out.

"That's everything?" Olivia asked.

"And more." Jesse slid a thumb under the bag's leather strap, pulling it and letting the weight snap back over her chest.

"Then let's roll." Axel clapped his hands together, looking at the two

"Yeah, roll out."

"Roll outta town."

"Roll on down the road."

"Roll—"

_"Guys,"_ Jesse cut them off, "Let's go?"

The air began to warm as the sun rose higher, finding its way through the trees' leaves and checkering the ground with dappled light, lighting the dirt path ahead of them. Reuben oinked past them, reveling in the sound of his cloven feet sliding through the leaves and underbrush. Pushing his snout against the ground and noisily chuffing through the dirt, he darted ahead.

"Reuben, stay close! You've already eaten!" Jesse called after him, running and grabbing him away from a huckleberry bush. He attempted to look at her innocently despite the deep red berry juice staining his mouth. "You aren't fooling anyone with that. C'mere"

She pulled down her shirt sleeve from where it was gathered at her elbow, wiping under his snout with the side of her wrist, uncaring of the gathering stains. She rolled her eyes at his griping as he tried to dodge her hand. She licked her thumb to scrub it over the remaining splotches of berry.

Setting him down, he took off, giving her a scornful look.

"That was seriously one-hundred percent unnecessary." Olivia said, coming up to her side.

"I dunno, it was kinda funny." Axel watched Reuben rubbing his face against the ground, attempting to dirty it again.

"No, you're both right. He knows better than to go guzzling down food like that not even thirty minutes after he's eaten. It was just his punishment." She snickered, pushing her now blotchy sleeve back up. "He absolutely hates when I do that."

"You gotta start taking me on you and Reuben's little forest adventures."

She and Olivia entered into a short but heated conversation on the difference between babying Reuben and _baby_-babying him, Axel occasionally adding his two cents as they walked.

Through the thickest patch of forest in their area, the sky vanished almost completely; only a few fragments of blue remained—like scattered pieces of an impossible jigsaw sun's heat had not quite penetrated the area, leaving a pleasant chill from the night.

Jesse was looking forward to the end of the Con. She enjoyed the event more than anything, but there was a something about walking home with her friends after a full day of enjoying themselves, stomachs full, feet hurting, Reuben asleep in someone's arms, and the yearly haul; a bag stuffed with leftovers, EnderCon giveaways, game prizes, and the occasional trinket or self indulgent purchase from the pricey merchants—When the day was growing old into the night and the warm hearth called as the moon climbed up from the tops of the oak and birch trees. When they arrived home and spread their purchases and finds across the floor despite drooping eyes. When they fall asleep together on the couch, huddled close to their re-purposed furnace.

Lost in rose-tinted memories and the sweet surrendering scent of the late morning dew, she nearly missed Axel's words.

"So I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say _anything."_

"Okay, let's hear it." Said Olivia, who was jumping across the path, landing on the brittle, brown leaves crunching underfoot with every other step and pushing their papery remains deep into the soft soil.

"This is top of the line info you're getting here, so remember we need to keep it hush-hush."

"Axel." Olivia paused in her leaf hopping.

"Also, it's in two parts. Each part more exciting than the last—"

"Spit it out, Axel." Jesse finally said.

He grinned at them conspiratorially. "Part one. The special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the warrior him-freakin'-self!"

"Woahoh, what's part two?" Jesse asked, giving Reuben a smile when he trailed back to join them, likely listening in on the conversation.

"Part two, according to my sources, the winner of the building competition is gonna get to meet him personally." He looked to Olivia, "It doesn't mean anything if we lose! We'd still get to see Gabriel! But if we win? Oh, man! That would make up for all the losing."

Olivia gave him a look but said nothing.

"It's not that big of a deal. EnderCon will be fun either way." Jesse said.

"What? No hold on, let me try that again" He cleared his throat, placing a hand over his cheek like an old, stricken housewife, _"What?"_

"He's right, Jesse. Incredibly so. This is a huge deal! Meeting Gabriel would be a dream and an honor." Olivia paused, appearing to think. "But compared to Ellegaard though—just, wow."

"It'd be so cool to meet him. It's a total bummer that he's the only member left who still shows their face. Or isn't missing." Axel crossed his arms behind his head, a wistful look veiling his features. "Now, meeting Magnus? That would be absolutely nuts."

"Oh please." Olivia said, shaking her head.

"Hey Reuben, better be careful in that costume, buddy. The last time Gabriel saw a dragon it didn't end well."

Jesse concealed a snort of mirth, slapping Axel's shoulder as she looked to Reuben's bemused looking face, his head cocked.

"He's joking, bud. Don't worry about it, no one's gonna slay you."

Ahead, the trees thinned back out into regular forest, if a little less thick than usual, and they were washed with unfiltered sunlight.

Olivia looked around, pursing her lips. "So, does this source of yours make posters for a living?"

"Huh?"

They stop in front of a particularly dense cluster of trees leftover from the thick brush they'd only just passed through, all sporting two or more postings with either the EnderCon logo, Gabriel's Face, or the Order of the Stone's Amulet.

Jesse walked up to a sign partially covered by a thin, droopy branch. She pulled it up and over the post, standing back.

_"Gabriel: Keynote Hall - sold out."_ She read aloud.

"Yeah um, my, uh, source doesn't exist. You guys are my only friends." He said lamely, rubbing his neck.

Jesse stepped back over, giving Axel a small pat on the arm. "Let's just go, we have a full hour's head start."

They continued on, meandering through trees and bushes until they found the main path; the one their old one had failed to connect them with.

The smell of the food stalls were already becoming more and more potent. Jesse breathed in at the same time as Reuben, thinking about all her yearly favorites she would get to eat again after the competition—not to mention the merchants set up in front of their caravans. She was willing to face their spitting llamas for that nice jar of melon-dandelion paste she was almost out of. Sweet-smelling, smooth skin would easily make up for any spit that would no doubt end up in her hair as it did every year. She swore those things had it out for her.

"So," Said Olivia, "Which of the order would get you as hyped as Axel on milk day?"

"Hey what the heck—"

"I dunno, I'm sorta neutral, I guess." Jesse shrugged.

"Oh, yeah okay, neutral. As neutral as the Gabriel poster you pinned up in the treehouse." Olivia teased.

"Oh come on! Everyone thinks he's cool, and it's a nice poster! It's a really, really nice poster! You can't fault me for that."

"No, but I can fault you if you don't have a favorite! Are you leaning towards any of the members at all? Come on, join the cool kids and pick a favorite!"

"Well aside from Gabriel, Ellegaard—"

"Right? She's _incredible,_ isn't she?"

"_Yeees…_ she is pretty cool. But Soren—"

_"Soren?"_

"—Is pretty cool too. Like, The Architect, Builder of Worlds, Leader of the Order of the Stone. All those are all super impressive titles—don't give me that look, Axel!"

"But I mean… _Soren?_ Jesse, I mostly respect your opinion sometimes, but no one has seen or heard from the guy in years, no one has any idea where he is. Not even the Order."

"Okay, just because someone's missing or dead or whatever does not revoke their fan-having status." She scoffed. "I know I'm not the most builder savvy person when it comes to large scale, hands-on projects—the communal bedroom at home is a testament of that Olivia, so don't you dare say anything because I am well aware, put that finger back down."

Olivia closed her mouth and lowered her finger, Axel sniggered.

"But he was all about creating, designing, planning stuff out, and I can check off at least one and a half of those as things I am average to moderately good at."

After a pregnant pause, Axel slowly spoke, "…So, any other reasons besides _he was awesome and cool and also the guy in charge?"_

Jessie looked down, thinking, a finger curled over her lips before looking back up.

"He's got a nice mustache."

Olivia nodded sagely. "There's no counterargument to that."

"I've got one of those."

"No, you do not, Axel. You have little kitten hairs."

He snorted, feeling around his chin with a large grin.

"Yeah."

"Guys, let's stay focused. We have a competition to win. We can't fall behind just because we got a little too chatty." Jesse snapped her fingers at them, "We're nearly there, and we haven't even done our customary_ 'halfheartedly throw ideas around like spaghetti and hope one of them kinda sticks to the wall and then show up somehow less unprepared than before,'_ like, come on!"

"We never win. And this year we're got Reuben with us." Olivia rested her hands on her hips, looking like she would give anything to be at home, passed out on the couch.

"We're going to win, _because—"_

"Jesse, what are you talking about?"

_"Because,_ up 'till now? We've hated losing! But today. Today my friends, we're going to start learning how to love winning." She was silent for a moment before blowing at a lock of hair that had slipped loose from her clip. "That… didn't sound as good as it did in my head."

"No, no. I'm with that." Axel clapped her back supportivally, and she almost slammed face forward into the dirt with what would have likely been a sonic boom at the force behind it.

Righting herself from her near stumble, she looked to Olivia, who was covering a laugh with her hand. Jesse waited for her to finish, lips pulled thin across her face.

Finally, Olivia nodded, a few chortles escaping her when she removed her hand. "Alright. Me too. I'm with it."

"Oh, wait a minute. _Wait a minute._" Jesse grabbed their arms, pulling them forward into the shade of a tree, "We're thinking about this all wrong!"

She let go of and stood in front of them, beaming, arms out. "The point of the building competition isn't just to build _something._ You have to do something to get noticed by the judges!"

"Okay then. So how do we do this?" Olivia asked, Jesse's smile spreading to her. Reuben walked up by Jesse's side, unintentionally wacking her in the shin with his admittedly not very pointy or dangerous wings.

"We don't just build something functional, we build something fun!"

"After we finish the fireworks machine like planned, we build something cool on top of it!"

"You might be onto something…" Olivia said, shifting to rest her weight on one leg.

"If you wanna get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary." Axel added, "So how about we build a Creeper."

"Wouldn't an Enderman be better? I'm more scared of Endermen than Creepers." Olivia piped up from his left. Jesse tapped her chin in thought.

"They both have their moments. Both pretty scary." She heard Axel say lightly.

"All right, let's build the creeper."

"You're going with _Axel's_ idea?"

"What's wrong with my idea?"

Olivia dropped her arms to her side, letting out a short breath, "Nothing, It could totally be cool."

"It _is_ cool."

"Yeah… you know what? this is a good start. I think it's the first time we've decided on something aside from the initial idea before actually getting to the competition." Olivia nodded. She looked to Jesse and gestured to her bag with her chin. "Think we got everything we need?"

"It wouldn't hurt to grab a little more."

"Let's get to grabbin' then."

"We're so prepared. We can't lose! Like, _cannot_. Bring it in!" Jesse stuck her hand out, and they tightened the circle they were in, hands on top of the other's. Reuben jumped onto his hind legs and leaned his front hooves over their hands.

"_Dare to prepare,_ on three. No, _Preparing is daring._ Nope, that's the same thing." She shook her head, "Forget it. _Team_ on three, together. One, two, three!"

All three hands and one little hoof went into the air.

_"TEAM!"_ Jesse and Olivia shouted.

"Prepare!" Axel said at the same time, just barely louder than his regular voice.

And Reuben had tried to roar again, but this time it sounded like a very old pig getting butchered in the middle of the forest.

"Don't worry, we can workshop that."

* * *

jesse, axel, and olivia all share one singular brain cell and they have to take turns using it.

im basing a lot of endercon stuff off of the fair that comes into my town around october-november and festivals at plantations that have corn mazes set up and other autumn-y things & a lot my own experiences. i havent posted any writing in a long time so i'd love to hear what you think. i also need some motivation to finish editing chapter 4. idk what it is with it but i am STRUGGLIN


	2. Chapter 2

i hadnt planned on uploading 2 days i a row as these chapters take me a while to write but yall gave me such nice reviews. and the majority of them were just people telling me to update so lmao

so a few things:

*** there arent technically any shippy moments in here but rather just some dumb comic relief and just some stuff. you can interpret anything as you want. i just don't want anyone getting upset because their otp doesnt happen, or because their notp sort of kind of vaguely happens in a scene and so someone just absolutely ollies out. I can promise you no serious ship feels will be happening soon. but im not just writing this for me, you guys interpret anything as you want, you are completely free to do so as long as it isnt an explicitly adult character with jesse or anyone her age (im not going to set an exact age unless people really want it, but im just having jesse, axel, olivia, lukas, aiden, etc as 19-23. so no, they arent technically minors, but there will be a lot of parental relationships in the future, so itll be weird dont DO it) or taking any found family relationship i have going on and trying to ship that romantically. Bc hoo boy is there going to be more found family happening in this fic I love that trope so much its dang Cute

*** this chapter was HARD to write and idk why. im aware that it not really good lol

*** www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=Fq2VRqgzaZg

*** when put together, axel and jesse become chaotic neutral

presenting in todays chapter: lukas is a moron

* * *

"…We know all the things we're building, _and_ we've got all the stuff for it." Axel finished listing off all the reasons why they would win, despite Olivia telling him he could stop after the first four. "We are so ready."

"Yes, okay, all right, I know. This year will be different. I get it. Never do that again." Olivia groaned, fingers rubbing at her temples and her hat nearly pulled past her eyes.

"Uh, yeah…" Jesse set Reuben on the grass when she was sure Axel wouldn't start up again. "Sorry, I'm gonna need to agree. I had no clue when you would stop and why you wouldn't stop. Like, Reuben bit you."

"Yeah." He gave a short laugh, holding up his bandaged hand to inspect, "He did."

Jesse gave Axel a long-suffering sigh but still smiled fondly up at him, moving a few steps up in the line to the builder's guild section of the Con. They'd been delayed several minutes by the amount of people waiting and all Con goers around them, including Olivia, were getting antsy as they craned their heads to look to the Building Competition sign-up booth that lay past the entrance. Jesse had assured her it wouldn't close before they got there, but her friend still bounced her leg in place, biting her nails.

During Axel's improvised speech which had just been him listing off different things, Jesse had dug into her pack, slipping out their tickets and passing them to her friends. They'd each saved up a week in advance just to enter the building square of the Con; the one section you had to pay to enter. Olivia speculated it was to keep foot traffic low around all the building being done, Jesse thought it was for safety reasons, and Axel said the Builders Guild likely just wanted the money.

Handfuls of individuals left front of the line as the attendant explained over and over the area was in use for the Building Competition, requiring purchased tickets to enter. Jesse was endlessly grateful to Olivia for coming out here to buy their tickets two days beforehand. From where she stood, it appeared the ticket purchasing counter was almost halfway on the other side of the Con, crushed between the squabbling food stalls and merchant vendors.

Axel gave Olivia a reassuring pat on the back as they made it to the ticket booth, Jesse offering a smile. "See? We're fine. We won't miss sign-ups. "

They gave the tired-looking man their stamped paper slips without incident, aside from Reuben's wings slapping him across the face when the pig attempted to jump over the low gate as the attendant went to open it for them. Olivia had wanted to leave right then and there.

"No, no giving up. This year… This year, for sure. It will be different." Olivia muttered to herself as Jesse and Axel walked in front of her, the group passing a few crafting-themed food hutches getting ready to open and small tables selling cheap souvenirs. A bespectacled woman manning the much more official looking booth with banners for the Building Competition practically draping over her came into view as they made it through the area.

"This is happening. I'm not just ready to build, I'm ready to win. I am ready to _win_." Olivia said, voice rising in self-assurance.

Axel looked over his shoulder, holding a fist to the air.

"Say it, sister."

A man walked in front of them, forcing them to a halt as he passed. He flashed his gaze up for half a second. "Nice pig, losers."

Axel and Olivia glared after him despite their clear embarrassment, Reuben ducking his head in a whine. Jesse looked down, color painting across her face from one ear to the other.

A moment passed of them standing there feeling bad for themselves. Then with balled fists, Olivia huffed and shoved her way between the two, hooking her arms around theirs and dragging them off. Reuben slowly followed behind.

"Just ignore him, guys. What's one rude jerk to an entire Con full of people?"

Jesse perked up a little, "Yeah, you're right. He isn't even here to build, he's only here to watch. We'll be the ones actually putting our talents together and making something!"

"Exactly! And then won't he feel like the loser when he sees us win." Olivia grinned after the retreating form of the man with a smug look. "…Or at least get another participation medal. Point is, we'll be building—_creating_, and he'll be on the sidelines."

"Uh, Jess, 'Liv, not to put a damper on you two or anything but…" Axel trailed off. They looked up and Jesse groaned, Olivia's face twisting up like someone had offered her a glass of spoiled milk.

"Oh yeah, that's great. As if I didn't need a second headache with Lukas and his bag of lackeys. Who even—"

Olivia backed out from the middle as she continued on with her spiel, moving to Jesse's other side and grabbing the girl's shoulders, using her to fill in the center space.

"—not to mention Gill, he does nothing! He's just there as like, a prop that has a pull string on the back and if you pull it, it just makes him say some generic insult." She finally drew in a breath.

"Wow."

"Oh stop it, Axel."

"Woah, look. They've got matching leather jackets and everything. How did they afford a replica of that ocelot's face on each of them? No way they crafted it. Axel is that hand-stitched? Can you tell?" Jesse asked. They had all slightly crouched around each other as if they were hiding behind a tall bush.

"So cool."

"Axel!" Jesse slapped the back of his arm.

"Ow, hey! Come on. I didn't even do anything that time." Axel whined.

"Oh, yeah, like that hurt."

"I have tender biceps."

"Does this really matter, Jesse?" Olivia whispered.

"_Can—you—tell_, if they got those hand-stitched? Their jackets?" Jesse hissed into Axel's ear.

"_Uhh…"_ He squinted his eyes, holding his hands up to his face like he was adjusting binoculars. "Yeah, looks it."

"Who did they even get to do that?"

"No one from here, I can tell you that much for sure. That embroidery is next freakin' level! They pulled all the stops on those dumb jackets." Axel said, fake binoculars still up. If they were real, he would have broken them by now from his growing excitement or just because of who he was as a person. Reuben was running in frantic figure eights between their legs, not sure what the problem was but wanting to feel included.

"_The stitching of the leather is SUBLIME…_" He quietly yelled through gritted teeth, looking down at Jesse with a pained expression.

"Okay, no, no." Jesse's began, her voice turning accusatory as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Axel, _who_ taught you that word—"

One of the members nonchalantly turned towards the commotion, itching his nose before coming to a full stop. Eyebrow raised, he dropped his hands into the pockets of his jacket. His face took on an expression of derisive amusement. He elbowed the girl behind him for her attention, who swiveled to yell at him but soon had her mouth covered in silent laughter.

"Uh, guys." Olivia watched in mortification. Her voice went unheard as she tugged at her hat, hoping if she tried to pull down any further than it was, it would swallow her whole.

"Guys!" Olivia jabbed her friends' backs harshly to get their attention. "We've been spotted. "

"Whuh?" Axel said smartly, looking up and then freezing. Jesse however was crouched to one knee, attempting to grab Reuben. She finally caught him by his harness with a triumphant _"HAH!" _and an embarrassing string of cooing as she stood up with a grumbling pig in tow, her smile dropping from her face like a ten ton anvil at the sight in front of her. Even the blond, who had been busy signing them up, was staring. The lone girl of the other group subsequently broke down into hysterical laughter.

"Well, well. That was… quite a show! How do I write a check to your circus troupe? I'd hate to take advantage of a free viewing."

"Aiden, come on man." The obvious leader of the group said, though there wasn't much heart behind it.

"Hold on Lukas." He held a finger out, keeping his eyes trained on the group in front of him, "So do I just write it out to the Order of the Losers? I'm guessing that everyone will know who to take it to."

Lukas, thoroughly ignored, turned back to the sign-up booth, signing off a paper and handing it off to the bespectacled woman. She asked something before ducking under the counter and returning with a second sheet of parchment and inkwell. He seemed to sigh but took the quill from her regardless, leaning over the wooden surface to sign off a second sheet.

"Can I ask you what that specific act was called? No, no, don't tell me! It's the Dance of the fail squad, isn't it?" The bearded member slapped his knee in laughter, undeterred by the heavy low quality of the insult.

The girl rose from where she was hunched over holding her stomach, "Good one, Gill!"

Jesse leaned on one leg, waiting for them to finish. She lazily glanced to Olivia, casting a look of aggravation. The same expression was mirrored back at her with pursed lips and crossed arms.

Lukas finally lifted himself from the table, stretching his back out as he handed the quill to the cheery woman. He faced his friends, giving them looks of thinly veiled exasperation.

"Let's go, guys."

Jesse let loose a hard sigh from her nose, watching them walk past and enter through the gates.

"What a spineless little jerk." She mumbled, blowing a piece of hair from her face and clipping it back with the rest in annoyance. Axel and Olivia made general sounds of agreement. They stepped up to the table, receiving a polite smile.

"Name, please?" The woman asked, pleasantly enough.

"Axel, and uh, how do you do?" He smiled.

"Oh, I apologize. I meant your team name."

Axel and Olivia shared a look, turning their gaze to Jesse who was staring apprehensively past the well-dressed woman. The Ocelots had gathered a ways away behind the woman with blithe faces of scrutiny. She set Reuben down, rubbing her sweaty palms down the front of her overalls, the pig leaning against her leg, oinking affectionately.

"…Team name?" Axel repeated the words back like he was trying to pronounce the name of an exotic fruit. He looked down at the two girls with a sigh. "We are not ready for this."

"So much for losing anonymously."

Jesse mentally flipped through thoughts of team name ideas. However, the breakneck pace at which she'd become the center of attention sent her reeling; metaphorical pages of any ideas she had were scattered across floors upon floors of papers. A distant part of her found it a pretty accurate rendition of her mind.

She opened her mouth, then shut it tight with a snap of teeth when nothing came out but a prolonged _"Uhhhhhhh."_ She was the idea girl, and now that they needed that part of her again, her brain decided it was as good a time as any to deflate. She was aware of Reuben's cold snout pressing into her ankle, but not much else as she flatlined and stared ahead at nothing. She felt a few nudges from first Olivia and then Axel, the latter who leaned down to her in confusion.

"No name? You drawin' a blank?"

She nodded creakily, and the woman at sign-up suddenly smiled.

"No-names? Got it." She picked up her quill and scribbled on a piece of paper she had taken out after Lukas' group left. "I'll just write that down for you, and since you have the suggested amount of people on your team, there's no need for you to fill out any unnecessary paperwork.

"No! Wait, that's not—" Jesse started but was cut off. She could hear Aiden and the others practically heaving with laughter in the distance.

"All right, No-names! You guys are in booth five. Get cracking now, we have a few more groups left in line and the time for sign-ups ends in around thirty minutes." She gestured behind them, where a clustered line of people were waiting. A few of them were wincing in sympathy.

"Great." Olivia said to herself, sliding her hand down her face.

Not needing to be told twice that they could leave, Jesse grabbed Olivia and started shoving Axel towards the gate who protested at the manhandling.

"Hey, hey—_AH!_"

Stopping when he yelled out, she looked down and realized his middle was stuck between the tight gateway. Raising his arms he assessed the situation, he grumbled to himself as he took hold of either side of the gate with both hands and shoved himself free, stumbling over his own feet but catching himself before he ate dirt. Olivia came up behind him, placing a hand on his back and glaring at the gang who were leaning over each other absolutely losing it. Jesse exited out after Olivia, lagging so Reuben could go ahead of her and she could fold in his wings in to be sure they wouldn't catch on anything.

"Hey, I'm really sorry, Axel." She said after catching up to grab the side of his sleeve.

"Don't worry about it Jesse, I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"Still…"

"Still-nothing. _They _were the ones who turned that situation bad, not you."

The laughter was just now dying off and the tips Axel's ears were a bright red as he looked down, Olivia steered him off towards where she assumed their booth would be. Jesse gave Axel an apologetic side-hug, which he returned and pretended to try to crush her, making her laugh.

"Like I said, don't worry about it."

"Careful, that golem will snap you in half one of these days if you keep hanging around it!"

Jesse lowered her eyes in a scowl, staring down the group as they dispersed.

Axel had slowly let her go, and she looked at him in worry. He gave her a reassuring smile but caught the uncomfortable and dejected look in his eyes

She glared at Aiden's tall form, from his dark pants to his green, double-buttoned shirt that reflected sharp light off the polished buttons like yellow flares. She hardened her stare until he turned around and caught her eyes. He and his group were taking off after Lukas, so she gave him a look that she hoped guaranteed ill will from her, pointing her fingers from her eyes to his. He smiled at her, belittling, before giving her a mocking wave accompanied by a wink. He stuck his hands in his jeans's pockets, rejoining his friends with an obnoxious grin on his face. Her cheeks flared in a surge of anger and she almost rolled her sleeves to her upper arms and stalked after him. A warm hand clasped over her shoulder, stopping her. She turned to see Olivia shaking her head, Axel behind her. She gently tugged Jesse towards them, giving her a squeeze before letting go.

"It's not even worth it, come on."

Reuben pushed her calf with his head, seemingly in agreement. She looked away, not happy, but followed after her as Olivia busied herself with checking the booth numbers laid out in an increasingly confusing order. They took off walking into the maze-like space.

Outside every other building coop were cubbyholes, smithing tables, crafting tables, and communal furnaces boxed in by chests filled with basic ingredients. Canvas tents set up with stonecutters, anvils, and blast furnaces triangulated the grounds. Apprentice smiths from the guild manned them, taking stone blocks from participants and cutting them however need be, as well as repairing tools and occasionally smelting items for anyone in a hurry at the cost of two emerald chips.

The sweet smell of hay and stone hung heavy in the air with the residual morning fog, leisurely mixing into the dry Autumn air of midday and the raw scent of redstone and rock dust as competitors began preparing their supplies.

They zigzagged through the crowd, Olivia bumping into others and nearly falling over more than a few times the farther they walked into the sea of people. Axel offered to carry her on his shoulders and she responded that she would rather die.

She looked more stressed and frazzled by the second, but was resolutely determined to find where they needed to be, refusing when Axel and Jesse suggested they split up. They stumbled through the heart of the Building Competition, people standing in long lines for chests labeled _Uncommon Materials, Redstone,_ and _Mechanical._

Four judges wearing bright yellow ribbons had congregated in front of a modest stage. They talked amongst each other, subtly looking over at booths of people who had rented out spaces to build, but didn't plan on competing. She recognized one judge as the town's head blacksmith. He looked like he'd walked straight out of the smithy. Standing separate from the others, he conversed with gathered townsfolk, slapping someone on the back as he roared with laughter.

"It's like everyone in town is here. I thought they'd be over at the Con until the judging." Jesse said aloud, jumping when Axel came up behind her from where he'd trailed behind, poking her back.

"People like to watch people build. This year's a pretty nice turnout too, probably because of Gabriel."

"_Man,_ it's crowded, though. I think I liked it better when hardly anyone showed up over here." She complained, looking down every so often to check that Reuben was still following at her heels.

"At least it's sort of quiet as far as crowds go. Everyone seems like they're mostly chilling." Axel commented mildly.

It was then they passed Aiden of all people, who must have parted from his group as they went out to search for their own booth, meticulously selecting smooth stone from a Raw Materials chest supervised by an attendant. He appeared unaware he was holding up a short line behind him.

"Yeesh, what an annoying little weirdo," Axel grimaced, Jesse nodding in quiet agreement with him as they stopped to watch Olivia grab a poor custodian and ask a string of questions, gesturing wildly at the filled booths around them.

"Y'know, If Aiden had pulled that on Olivia he'd be dead right now." Axel said, and air blew out from Jesse's closed lips in her failed attempt to hold in her sudden bark of laughter.

She managed to pull it together as Olivia faced them after she waved off the retreating employee, a questioning frown pulling at her mouth. She had a piece of paper that an engraved piece of wood had stamped a grid pattern of the building competition's layout.

Waving the paper in her hands to let the ink dry, she spoke, "What was that? Sorry, that poor guy barely knew what he was doing."

"Nothing! I was just saying… that uh, we would usually be in bed right now!" Axel said cheerfully, clasping his hands together.

"I heard my name followed by a bunch of giggles." She rested her palm against her hip.

"Jesse did not _giggle_, she—"

"Hee_ey!_ What'd that guy give you there?" Jesse asked loudly, pointing to the small square of paper folded in her friend's hand as she elbowed Axel in the ribs.

"Oh! It's a map of all the booths. We actually passed ours already." She moved to showed it to her, flicking the edge of the parchment with the back of her hand. "Just look at this, the order is totally random this year! So stupid."

"So stupid." Jesse automatically agreed, elbowing Axel in the side again when he started to snicker under his breath.

They followed after Olivia, reentering the maze of squared-off fences. She would stop to inspect the map, backtrack, then turn left just to loop around and go the other direction. The ink was spreading through the paper, turning the lines fat and making it hard to discern what was what. Jesse and Axel had to stop her three different times from going in a circle around a singular booth.

They rounded a bend on a path they'd passed two times earlier, stopping when Olivia slowed down at the sign that read_ BOOTH 5._

"All right, corner booth!" Axel yelled, pumping his fists in the air. "First year we've got one!"

Jesse ran to the center of their area with Axel, unbuckling her pack and throwing it to the side as she pointed around, "There's shade for Reuben if it gets hotter later in the day, one of the booths we're connected to has been closed off, _and _it's close to the well!"

"Yeah, corner booth! Bring it in Jess!" He yelled, arms held wide as he bent his knees.

"Corner booth!" She yelled back, running and hitting him squarely in the chest like a bullet, making him take a few steps back from the impact before heaving her up and grabbing her in a bear hug and jumping, both of them chanting "Corner booth, corner booth!"

Olivia smiled warmly at them, the sun reflecting off her dark skin and making her face glow. Looking around, she whistled in appreciation. Taking a moment to inspect the ground with her foot, she stomped a few times.

"No foundation-ruining moister or weak roots as far as… I'd say at least eight-ish feet below us. I think. Just a nice, clean sturdy pack of dirt. This is fantastic—Reuben, hey! No digging!"

"Love me some good old packed dirt." Jesse said, hanging off Axel's side with an arm and watching Olivia attempting to grab Reuben.

"Run, Reuben!" Axel called, releasing Jesse as she let go of his shoulder and lightly landed on her feet.

She pushed her hands to the bottoms of her pockets, rocking on her heels as she watched Olivia catch Reuben next to Axel, scooping the pig up into her arms to scold him, a finger held against his mouth as if he might try to interrupt.

"This has gotta be a sign, like I'm telling you. Life is finally cutting us some slack. No way we mess this up." Axel kicked at some crabgrass growing near them.

"Not a chance." Jesse shook her head, giving him a low-five when he held his hands out.

"Oh, you guys!" Olivia hissed, dropping Reuben who gave a surprise oink and advancing on them. She grabbed their chins and redirect their gaze to the booth adjacent to them, "You went and jinxed it. Look who our neighbors are!"

Lukas and his gang flooded into their building space, making a B-Line towards their chest. Aiden walked in moments later holding a shrunken, floating smooth stone block over his palm, bringing it up for Lukas to inspect. Their backs were turned them as they talked amongst themselves, unaware of the three person party staring intensely at them.

Slowly, the four carefully took out what appeared to be sheeted blocks of multicolored glass. A heavy looking, empty beacon followed next, hefted out of the crate by Maya and Lukas who gently set it on the ground with audible grunts.

"I don't like the look of this…"

"Is that a freakin' beacon? They have a freakin' beacon?" Axel whispered in disbelief, "Freakin'—beacon."

Olivia moved to his other side, Jesse glancing at her as she took a step forward and shielded her eyes from the sun. "…That's stained glass."

"Really nice stained glass. How'd they get EnderCon to provide them with that, much less a beacon? They wouldn't even give us with fireworks; Axel, you had to go out and make them yourself!"

"Hold on, they aren't just building a beacon; they're building a /rainbow/ beacon." Olivia paused, then looked down after a moment. "We're gonna lose."

"What're you worried about? We got this."

"Who are you kidding, Jess? We've got nothing!"

"Um, we have got a mascot! Hello!" Jesse pointed to Reuben with both hands. Reuben was attempting to eat the grass, pushing the mouth of his mask against the ground only for it to stop him short. He kept trying, whining in confusion. Olivia gave her an unimpressed look before turning away.

"'Liv come on. Being negative won't help any!"

"Jesse's right, you know." Axel said, joining in from behind.

"Our design is better! A creeper that shoots fireworks is so cooler than a fancy light."

"Guys. Their difficulty score? It's going to be higher than our total score." she stretched her arms out wide to demonstrate.

"But we've got something they don't." Jesse shook her hands to give her next word a bit of flare, "Fireworks!"

"Oh, we got fireworks all right. If you won't believe in yourself, believe in the fireworks. I spent weeks making these babies, so trust me when I say these are gonna be quality." Axel made a show of patting his very full pockets.

"Fine, fine." She sighed, rubbing a temple. "I know I'm being a downer guys, and I a_m_ sorry. Thanks for sticking with me through bouts of crippling self doubt all the time. But both of you together? Very annoying. Have I mentioned this before?"

"Yeah. It's in our job description, sorry." Jesse said, looking pleased with herself when Olivia lit up with a short giggle.

The nice air of comfortable rapport broke apart with a mocking laugh that grated on Jesse's ears. It soured the atmosphere all the way from the other side of the fence.

"Look, it's the Order of the Losers. Again."

"Nice one, Gill."

"And there goes my good mood again." Olivia spoke, voice hushed as she gave Jesse a shriveling stare. Olivia wanted to just walk away, but was fully aware Jesse would not budge from her spot so long as the Ocelots were messing with them.

So she crossed her arms next to her stubborn friend, watching Maya beckon Aiden over, whose face split into a grin at the sight of Jesse.

"We're just looking." Olivia said, posture defensive. She heard Axel approach and stand behind her and Jesse like a brick wall. His borderline unreal height made her feel better despite the tense expression tugging at the large boy's face.

Jesse placed her hands on her hips, Reuben pushing past to settle in front of her. "Problem? Is there a rule against it?"

"No, but there'll be plenty of time for you all to look at it after it wins and gets shown at EnderCon." He jeered, sauntering forward and stopping at the barrier separating the two groups, lifting a foot to rest it against the middle paneling of the fence.

"You're being unpleasant." Axel commented, frowning.

Aiden ignored him. "Well, maybe not all of you. EnderCon doesn't allow outside food or drink."

When none of them rose to the bait, aside from a raised brow from Olivia and a cough from Axel, Aiden rolled his eyes.

"I'm talking about your pig!" He pointed both hands toward Reuben, as if he thought they'd forgotten he was there. "I'm saying he's food."

"Yeah, we got it." Jesse said after a pause, face impassive.

"Uh… You really shouldn't mess with Reuben." Axel said, unconsciously flexing his bandaged fingers behind his back.

"I do what I want. Besides, what harm can a pig do?" Aiden said, carelessly leaning his arms over his raised knee.

"Keep talking and find out." Olivia spat, fighting the urge to kick his foot from under him just to see him veer forward head-first into the fence.

"What, is it going to jump into a skillet and hope I accidentally burn my hand?"

"Reuben is not food." Jesse ground out, taking a step closer with a heated glare.

"Could've fooled me, he looks delicious." He said, sounding almost thoughtful.

Jesse wavered at his tone of voice. She blinked at him, brows pulling together as she spoke, "…That sounded like a weird compliment?"

"You'll have to eat me first, and I guess by extension have to compliment me as well." Axel pointed to himself with his thumb, puffing out his chest.

"Uh… Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Olivia said looking to Jesse, tone sarcastic with a hint of_ 'Boys are incredibly weird, specifically these two at the moment.'_

Jesse gave her a look that said, _'Axel is weird all the time.'_

"Oh, you want to start something big boy? Try me and I'll get you thrown out from this competition faster than you can say slime balls, and then what'll happen to your team? Your girlfriends will be disqualified for not reaching the required group size and kicked to the road right alongside you." He leaned over the fence with his hands, bringing his face in and looking up at Axel. "Then again, I don't think a bucket of lard actually counts as a person in the first place. So your team never really qualified—"

"Shut up." Jesse said, drawing herself up in his space despite the height difference. He backed up a hair, but his smirk grew, eyes narrowing.

"What's that?"

"Jesse _said_ shut up. Do you need to hear it again?" Olivia stepped forward, Reuben getting pushed to the back with Axel. "Well?"

He glanced between the two, smile faltering somewhat as he growled, "I dunno. Maybe."

Lukas had walked over amidst the back and forth, clicking their chest open and rifling through the contents. He dragged out a trail of tangled, reinforced yet thin redstone cables. Rubbing his forehead with a sigh, he kneeled down and detangling them one at a time. He watched the squabble with a disdainful stare, bundling the thick wiring into snug loops around his fingers.

"You have two girl's sticking up for you?" Aiden said, tutting and shaking his head like it disappointed him.

"Yes." Axel said frankly, looking down at the two with a smile.

"Why don't you stop hiding behind them and face me one on one like an actual man would?"

Lukas intervened once he finished wrapping the redstone wire in an orderly fashion around in his hands, "Stop wasting your time, Aiden, we've got work to do."

Aiden looked back and Lukas, who stood and raised his eyebrows at him expectantly, gesturing to the stacked glass laying flat on the ground at the far side of their booth.

"You're lucky I'm busy." Aiden said, pushing off the fence with a scowl at Lukas' stern look.

Jesse tilted her head, leaning forward in fake sympathy with her hands tucked behind her back. "Did you get in trouble?"

Olivia covered a laugh with a cough behind her hand.

Aiden fumed; any chance of him walking away gone. Maya opened her mouth, ready to hash out some biting remark while Gill looked torn between doing as Lukas said or staying with Aiden.

"Hey Jesse, guys." A gravelly voice abruptly cut through the rising animosity like an ax to rotting wood.

"Petra, Hey!" Jesse instantly broke her stare with Aiden, smiling in greeting at the redhead and receiving a casual upturn of thin lips in turn.

With her turquoise bandana that contrasted against her flat, red collarbone-length hair, Petra was always one to catch eyes. Her dark clothes highlighted her pale, freckled skin. A blue linen shirt covered by a protective chest guard made with what looked like a blend of fabrics, quilted firmly together into a durable padding interlined with strong cretan stitches, which hung loosely around her muscular frame, topped with a reinforced, black vest over dark shorts.

Leather boots that matched Jesse's came to a stop at a dark pair of shin and knee guards strapped over her legs, made with similar material as the chest guard; tough layered cloth. She wore a long black sleeve on her left arm that acted as a compression wrap, and a single fingerless glove pulled over her dominant hand to prevent blistering.

"How's the build going?" She asked, gently rotating a pickaxe over her shoulder from left to right.

"Only time will tell, but we're optimistic." Axel tilted his head into a shrug.

Aiden and Gill parted for Lukas, who approached Petra with a smile.

Next to Petra, his clothes seemed almost dull despite comprising more colors; Jeans, a striped maroon shirt, and his black leather Ocelots jacket. He made up for in his hair which looked like it was painstakingly done in front of a mirror every morning. A section of blond hair was styled back into a quasi-pompadour, leaving the rest combed back like Aiden's. It was exaggerated by his long nose and pointed chin. His short, sparse sideburns framed his face in such a way that they shaped his cheekbones to appear more pronounced than they were.

Jesse took a measured step back from Petra as Lukas approached in petty distaste. He didn't seem to even notice, but Petra did. She stayed silent, though.

"Hey, Petra, I forgot to thank you for that Nether Star."

"Hey, Lukas. Not a problem." She said easily, a hint of a friendly smile touching her perpetually disinterested face.

"You helped these tools? Why?" Axel asked accusingly.

"For the right price, I'll help anyone." Petra stated blandly, shrugging a shoulder at him. She looked to Jesse with a twitch of her lips. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

Olivia watched Petra walk off, her eyes narrowed. She held the side of her palm to her mouth, "None of us _know_ where to find you!"

"Exactly!" Petra called back, raising a hand in goodbye without turning around as she disappeared into the crowd just as quickly as she appeared.

Lukas returned his gaze to them and offered a friendly smile after watching Petra leave. Aiden was glaring at them from behind Lukas, Gill and Maya glaring at them from behind Aiden.

"Hey, no hard feelings guys. If you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us." He rubbed the back of his neck, presenting his hand to Jesse, "So why don't we just forget about all this and, y'know… make this about how cool our builds are."

Jesse bristled. Of course only now that he knows Petra is on friendly terms with them did he bother attempting any semblance of peace.

"We're cool with /Petra/, but you need to teach your friends some manners." She resisted the urge to invade his personal space and roughly point her finger into his chest with every word.

Lukas just laughed a little, his shoulders shaking with the noise. "Aiden's always like that. He's just trying to get into your head."

"Not just Aiden, all of them! Have you heard of the saying _It's possible to be nice and win?"_

"I don't… think that's a saying—"

"Sounds like something a loser would say," Aiden cut in, leaning on one leg and pretending to inspect his nails. Maya chortled quietly.

Jesse momentarily pondered the flint and steel in her pocket. Reuben shook his head no at her.

It was when Axel stepped forwards that all four of them stepped back. Olivia grabbed his arm and hissed something to him. Jesse just tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, taking a moment to mockingly inspect her own nails back at them. She had zero qualms with sicking Axel on then.

"Hey, hey," Lukas held his hands in front of him in a placating manner, "I told you, he doesn't mean anything by it—none of them do."

Olivia looked ready to say something—something not nice but the looks of it—before Jesse stepped forwards. She extended her hand without pause or hesitation, an amiable smile covering her scowling face.

"Hey, may the best team win."

Axel appeared like he wanted to argue, but Olivia shushed him by physically holding his lips together with her thumb and pointer finger.

"Careful what you wish for." Lukas sent her an equally friendly smile.

"We'll see about that."

Stepping forward and taking her smaller hand, he grunted in surprise when she easily yanked him forward. He blinked, taken aback as her smile fell into a thin line

"We're going to crush you." She said matter-of-factly.

He was quiet for a few seconds, startled, before releasing her hand and laughing good-naturedly, rubbing his chin. "I don't know if you know this, but we're pretty good."

Jesse said nothing. She put her hands on her hips, staring him down.

"Oh, wait." He looked confused before his face broke out into a grin, "I get it. It's like a joke, right?"

"No. I'm serious." Jesse leaned forwards on her toes, voice low. "We're going to destroy you."

"Huh," He laughed a bit, his wide smile softening as his cheeks flushed, clearing his throat and looking off to the side for a second. He glimpsed back, corners of his mouth gently raised again, "You know, you're really funny. That's awesome. Hey, uh, good luck."

She looked him over in utter disbelief, eyes narrowed and brows pinched together. The top side of her lip was pulled up faintly with incredulity as she searched his reddening face for something, anything to indicate she was being messed with.

She looked at Olivia in confusion, lightly spluttering and attempting to gesture in the vague direction of Lukas. Olivia looked like she was barely holding it together. Axel was looking at the blonde in dawning realization, brows rising past his bangs. Reuben's head pivoted between them, confused, but sure Lukas had done or said something unthinkably disrespectful to Jesse he hadn't understood. So Reuben did the first logical thing he could think of. He jumped between them, arms and legs spread like he was about to pounce, and screeched up at him.

Lukas reeled back at the pig that had appeared in front of him like a bolt of lightning. One second not there, the next there and shrieking at him with the promise of intended future malice. He'd bumping into Gill and the rest who had jumped out of their skins.

"See, told you you shouldn't mess with Reuben." Axel said, snorting.

"Wow, I-I don't think your pig likes me very much," Lukas chuckled nervously, backing up. He looked to them, having the decency to look marginally embarrassed. "So, um, I'll see you guys around? I mean we'll be building next to each other, but you get what I mean?"

He looked at Jesse expectantly, who said nothing. So Olivia quickly stepped in instead with an unconvincing, "Sure."

They watched Lukas walk back into his booth, friends following close behind. Aiden slapped the back of his head and Maya was laughing hysterically.

Olivia spoke up again after a long moment of silence.

"So," She said, "That happened."

"Shut up, Olivia."

The three stared after them. Olivia was still shaking with unshed tears of mirth and Axel looked absolutely scandalized. Reuben huffed, kicking at one of the fence posts with his hind legs, tapping the ground like a pint-sized bull. He jumped back and forth, making a weird hissing noise and acting like he was getting ready to fight them, just waiting for them to turn around and charge.

Axel slowly raised a leg away from him. "Um—"

Jesse was on Reuben before anyone could even blink, and the pig was instantly squealing and rolling to the ground in glee, demeanor changing so quickly it would give any onlooker whiplash.

"Oh my goodness! What a _good boy!_ Ohh, _big_ boy! My strong boy, so tough!" Jesse was cooing, her silly pet-talk-voice at maximum capacity as she ran the pads of her fingers over his chubby stomach and began tickling him, Reuben making squeaking noises of joy as he wriggled around on the ground, "_Ohhh_ he likes the tickles, yes! He likes the tickles, doesn't he? _Mean, handsome_ Ender Dragon came and scared them away didn't he? yes he did! Yes you did!"

It was when her R's were becoming W's and she pulled him into her lap and started blowing air against his stomach that they intervened. Olivia went around to drag Jesse away as Axel attempted to pick Reuben up, but was bitten over his bandaged hand in his efforts.

"_Ow!_ That's_ two times_ in a single day, Reuben!"

"We are! In public! You know!" Olivia whispered loudly, jerking at the back of Jesse's overalls with every word.

"Oh, come on, that was cute! He was like, ready to beat them up."

"You're taking a weird situation and just making it weirder, Jess." Axel said, cradling his hand.

"Hah! Funny. Like you wouldn't have done the same thing if Reuben hadn't beat you to it." Jesse said, lolling Reuben back and forth in her arms.

Olivia wasn't able to stop her burst of giggles, backing up with a grin when Axel whipped around to look at her, "Sorry, sorry, I'm just—I imagined you literally doing what Reuben just did, and she's not wrong."

"Is it pick on Axel day or something? Like, was I just not notified?"

"You're right, I'm sorry," Jesse said, smile gone as she stood with Reuben flopped over in her arms like a large sausage, sucking on a chestnut she'd snuck out of her bag for him. "Pick on Axel day was Tuesday."

Olivia futilely covered her nose and mouth with both hands, laughing loudly and backing up until her legs hit the chest and she was forced to sit, uncovering her face to lean forwards and slap at her thighs in quick succession.

"Okay, so you don't laugh at most of my jokes, but you lose it when I make the lowest possible effort in making one. All right, sure." Jesse said, unable to hold in her grin. Olivia's peels of giggles were infectious. Even Axel began to smile in spite of his best efforts to keep his frown in place.

"Yeah laugh it up you two. See how funny it is when I decide to not share my fireworks."

"Sorry, sorry," Jesse grinned, popping out a second chestnut from her bag and setting Reuben down when he began climbing out of her arms to reach it. She approached Axel, coolly pushing the shelled nut into one of the fists closed over his chest.

He snorted, looking at her and throwing it in his mouth, loudly cracking it between his teeth. Jesse recoiled.

"Ew! You can't just do that!"

He chuckled between spitting out bits of shell, "Yeah I can."

The woman who had previously been at the sign-up table's voice reverberated from multiple soundboxes stationed around them. Axel had jolted like he'd been stung by a bee, swallowing the chestnut whole. Jesse pounded heavily against his back as he coughed. Olivia made her way to them, face flushed with exertion and looking to the stage where the dark skinned woman was speaking into a small box.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and all others! Welcome to the EnderCon Building Competition!" She yelled, clapping alongside builders and spectators alike with a face-breaking smile.

She waited for the crowd to settle, pushing her round glasses up her nose, "The winners of this year's competition will have their build featured in the main plaza during EnderCon."

She signaled a hand in the direction of Keynote Hall, the glass dome rising above the trees in the distance, "The winners will also have the opportunity to meet, in person, Gabriel the Warrior!"

Axel whistled noisily with his fingers, Olivia and Jesse jumping with their arms over the other's shoulder and fist bumping the air. Axel reaching out and picked the two of them up, sandwiching them all together with an excited laugh, Reuben squealing and hopping around the trio wildly, excited by all the commotion.

"Ocelots!" They looked to their neighbors, going through the motions of a handshake; pounding fists and turning to the member next to them with a chest-bump, "Ocelots!"

"Woah, a handshake? We don't have a handshake." Olivia said, glancing between Axel and Jesse.

Axel set them down on their feet, scratching his chin with pinched eyebrows.

"We'll just… make one up!" Jesse shrugged, "We'll call it the, uhh…"

They looked at her expectantly.

"The um, the… the Builder's Bump!" She held out her fist, Axel went in for a high-five, and Olivia's own fist missed hers by a good inch. They tried again, this time Jesse going in for a fist bump, Axel a hand clasp, and Olivia a low-five. He ended up grabbing Jesse's fist as Olivia unintentionally delivered a stinging slap to their conjoined hands.

"Hm," Axel grunted dully, letting go and rubbing his abused hand. With a quiet "Ouch."

"Well, uh... we can workshop it…" She tried, bringing her shoulders in close as she shrugged sheepishly.

"And just like that, I'm nervous again."

"Don't talk like that. We can do this! Just stick to the plan and everything will be fine." Jesse insisted, grabbing their arms and bringing them in. "We may not have a name, but still—this year, we can't lose!"

She held out her hand, smiling around at them with a look of determination as they brought their own in, clutching their hands together.

"Try for team again?" She asked hopefully. Axel and Olivia shared a smile, nodding.

"No death rattles this time, Reuben." Olivia said firmly. Reuben stuck his snout up and pulled away from the group, trotting over to the sidelines and sitting with an embarrassed huff.

"Okay! On three, together this time, one—two—three!"

_"TEAM!"_ They raised their arms up, quickly dispersing and smiling proudly at one another over the small accomplishment. Any achievement, regardless of the size, was still an achievement.

"Let's do this." Axel nodded, Looking to the announcer who they'd tuned out as she held up a cow-bell.

"Building! Starts…!"

Jesse threw the lid of the furthermost supplies chest outside their booth open, grabbing wood and standing at the ready as the woman paused for suspense.

_"Now!"_ She yelled, hitting the bell with a small mallet.

* * *

i wasnt very happy with this chapter, im still not. it could have used more editing and i'll probably come back and do that. it just feels very weak and messy between interactions if that makes sense?

shoot me a review and let me know what u think?


	3. Chapter 3

im trying to find a consistent update schedule but i just dont think its going to happen. i think its just gonna be whenever i fnish writing a chapter, ill post a new chapter, and i finished editing ch 4 for the most part and writing ch 5, which has only been half edited, so heres chapter 3 i guess lol

its a little bit shorter than the previous ones, but is by no means SHORT-short. ive got about 6k words here. I switched around perspectives a bit more, and had difficulty connecting things back together so i just put an indent at the start of the sentence, usually when moving between locations different characters are at. pay no attention to the unclear timeline. just pretend lukas spent like an hour getting food or that jesse and co are fast builders ksjgfhkh

theres some axel & jesse friend time here, but dont confuse it as Axel/Jesse.

* * *

Jesse sat across Axel on an expansive wooden plank high atop the tower they'd constructed. He was emptying his pockets in front of her, pulling out firework after firework and excitedly shoving every single one in her face.

"I've got cactus-glowstone, beetroot-lapis, allium-lilac, sunflower-plume, you name it. The skys gonna erupt into rainbows—no, the sky will _become_ a rainbow, and everything's gonna smell vaguely of beetroot. It's gonna be so cool, Jesse."

"Woah, I hadn't expected you to make so much. This is great, Axel!"

"Explain to me again _why_ you feel the need to blow up a beetroot?" Olivia called from below them, fingers smoothing out tangled redstone wire as she worked to connect the repeater with their dispensers.

"I'm not _blowing up a beetroot_. I'm blowing up _pieces_ of a beetroot. I needed the color red for a lot of these!" He whined.

"Are you whining?" Olivia asked, amusement in her voice.

"I do not whine," He whined. "And you know, if you'd wanted something different like roses or peonies or whatever, you could've just told me until waiting the day of. Besides, cooked beetroot is delicious."

"Yeah, when Olivia makes it at home with other vegetables and spices. I don't think singed, gunpowder beetroot is gonna be on anyone's top list of smells." Jesse said, picking up one of the firework rockets and inspecting it up close.

"Tomato, tomah-to. All I'm saying is that it's definitely gonna give us that extra wow factor to win if the Creeper doesn't cut it." He took the rocket from her hand, loading it into a dispenser slot and ripping a bite from his beef jerky, stealing a few sunflower seeds from Jesse before getting his hand slapped away by her.

"The Creepers totally gonna cut it! We didn't build these dumb dispensers up so high just to not win!" Olivia said. She shimmied around an oak support beam and jumped onto the ladder, climbing up to join them. She sat down with a loud sigh next to Jesse, legs stretching out against the wood as she closed her eyes at the cool breeze the afternoon brought. Jesse leaned over and handed Olivia her bag of dehydrated peaches and bottled water, which she both graciously accepted.

"So, taking a break? Or all finished down there." Jesse asked through a mouthful of jerky she'd swiped from Axel in revenge, pointing to the repeater below them with a shoe-less toe.

"Done, I think." She said, yanking off her red stained work gloves and hanging her legs over the side of their build, drowning her water to the halfway point and wiping her mouth with her wrist. "All that's left is the Creeper."

"Hey," Jesse nudged her with her shoulder, "Thanks for being so great. I know you told Axel and I to stay away from you and the redstone stuff while you set it up, but It must've kinda sucked to be working like that while we were just sorta up here."

Olivia smiled, pushing sweaty curls out of her face that has escaped her twin braids, "Don't worry about it, we all had our parts. You did the layout and Creeper Plan adjustments, Axel did the heavy lifting, and I carried the entire team by single handedly taking care of the redstone."

She laughed when Jesse shoved her, stuffing her gloves in her pocket as she went to tear open her paper bag, taking a thin slice of dried peach.

"How's Reuben? I heard him practically screeching when he couldn't come up the tower with you earlier."

"He was just worried and felt like, probably more than a little left out. Hold on." Jesse cupped a hand over her mouth and yelled, using her other hand to wave her fingers down at the pig who was sitting on a patch of grass in the shade. "Hey Reuben! Hey!"

He didn't notice her, and she rolled her eyes, digging her hand into her pack and grabbing one of the last few chestnuts, throwing it to the ground to get his attention. Reuben merely scurried out, grabbed it in his mouth, and was back in the shade without once looking up.

"Well he seems a little upset."

"Nah. He was a man on a mission, out to get that nut. I wouldn't take it personally." Axel said, slowly reaching over Jesse to place a piece of jerky on Olivia's leg and take a slice of peach in return, like he expected her to bite him—understandable given the events of the day.

Olivia picked up the salted meat, pulling it into strips down the middle and languidly chewing on a lean strand of beef. "He'll get over himself. I think he just knows you're keeping the last chestnuts to yourself."

"Sunflower seeds by themselves aren't very filling, and I can only steal so much food from Axel." She said, bringing her legs up and crossing them defensively. Olivia smiled and placed a wide peach slice over Jesse's thigh much like Axel had done.

"There. A nutritious meal."

"Wowee. Thanks."

Olivia stacked two more flat slices on top, Jesse grabbing them when they began to slide. "All right, all right, I'm not asking you to give me all of your stuff. I do want my appetite worked up enough after this that the food stalls won't even know what hit them. Those baked potatoes and pumpkin pies don't stand a chance."

"Yeah, say it." Axel said, holding up his water bottle. "I'm looking forward to those little honey shortbread cookies.

"Ohohoh, those are so good." Olivia kicked her heels against the wood plank at the thought. "And this is the year I get you two to try the caramelized squid."

The two friends gave varying degrees of protesting groans.

"I swear they're delicious! You just never give them a chance!"

"That's because no one but you would want to eat a squid on a stick. Now if it was fried? I could get behind that, but caramelized? No thanks, like who even does that to a poor squid." Jesse said, biting into a soft slice of dried peach and waving her hand around as she spoke, "Like, can you imagine being a squid and minding your own business, and then one day someone catches you and has the audacity to _caramelize_ you of all things."

Olivia shoved the rest of the jerky in her mouth, "The taste just grows on you, I don't know what else to say—but there's no need to bring whoever that squid was before they were dead into this."

"_Whoever_ the squid was—?"

"Oh, no! A firework's dispenser?" Aiden yelled from his own, much shorter tower, cutting their conversation short, "I'm so scared!"

"Don't even look at him." Olivia muttered, resting the crook of her arm over her knee.

"Y'know, it kinda looks like something my nephew would build in his backyard. You took the easiest possible thing and managed to mess it up!" He said sardonically, ignoring Lukas who had turned to give him a stern look.

The Ocelot's build was eye catching, and for the most part, clean and compact. Between four dark oak support beams, Red sandstone served as a channel for the redstone wire, contrasting nicely with the shimmering prismarine securing the repeaters. The sun was casting colors onto the ground through the stained glass blocks pressed into place on sticky pistons where they would be intermittently pushed into the light of the beacon, an offshoot of complicated but tidy redstone which would make that happen rigged around the base.

Next to them, their build looked like an old ramshackle watchtower that had been stripped of its walls. Raw oak blocks and planks, stark wooden beams with plain sandstone supports, a basic smooth stone base, and a single redstone repeater in the center with wires that reflected a red glimmer against any close surface. At the top was a narrow platform with two dispensers positioned evenly on either side. Redstone wire twisted and turned over the beams, connecting the two with the repeater.

"You worry about you build, and we'll worry about ours. Let's just be mature about this, I'd like to enjoy my break without any fighting." Jesse called over tartly, standing onto her bare feet.

He raised his hands in mock defense. "Hey, I'm just saying. That's some real questionable structural integrity and shoddy redstone work you got there, Jess."

Before she could open her mouth to retort, Olivia had stood up, face flushed dark in anger.

"Okay, Five things. First of all? Do _not_ call her Jess! Second, our build is _fine!_ Jesse drew up the layout herself and made last minute modifications while still keeping safety a top priority. _Third,_ the world would sooner end before Axel here built something that wasn't sturdy as all hell. Fourth? I did every bit of the redstone work _myself_, down to making my own wires which I can promise are leagues above whatever cheap stuff you have.

Fifth, maybe instead of _messing_ with us, you should be checking how you're connecting your own redstone before you have to rewire your whole system! I can see from all the way up here an absolutely rookie mistake! And way to waste the construction of your entire build by using a bunch of flashy materials instead of practical durability! That thing's going to fall apart in a matter of months!"

"_What_ did I _just_ say, Olivia?" Jesse said, voice high.

"He started it!"

"Hey, I laid down that redstone myself, there's nothing wrong with it! Maybe try calming down!" Aiden yelled over.

_"You_ calm down!"

_"I AM CALM!"_

Lukas rubbed his face as the two went back and forth at each other, looking across and meeting Jesse's eyes from where she stood on her own build. They shared a quick silent look of mutual suffering before turning away to their respective teammates.

"Let's just chill out, Aiden."

Just moments after he spoke, he heard Jesse begin to yell: "You need to embark on an arctic expedition! To find some semblance of chill, 'Liv!"

"Oh, don't _'let's just chill out'_ me! My redstone is fine!" Aiden's voice cracked, making Maya snicker from where she'd been watching the scene fold out, sitting with Gill.

"It's just redstone, it's not a big deal if you made a mistake so long as we fix it."

"_Just_ red—Just Redstone?!" He spluttered, hands seizing in front of him up like he wanted to grab Lukas by the shirt and shake him. "Fine, check it then! See what I care! Since you're so sure I made a mistake!"

"I didn't say anything even remotely close to that."

"You were thinking it!"

Lukas just shook his head and jumped down, bending his knees from the impact. He looked over their long line of redstone circuits, bending over to examine the finer details of areas where wires were pressed up close to each other. Pressing the stone button that would move the stained glass over the beam, he watched the sparkling lines of rolled redstone turn on like a wave of light washing over them, only to stop short just a quarter away from their beacon. He frowned, turning it off and looking over the rig Aiden had laid out over planks of dark wood, puzzled. He heard Gill drop down behind him. Lukas turned towards him, the other looked nervous.

"Hey, try checking the repeaters on the left side, I noticed something there earlier but didn't want to say anything in front of Aiden… you know how he gets." He said, worrying his hands.

"Thanks, Gill. Will do." Lukas smiled, clapping a hand over his thick shoulder. He gave a small smile back, climbing back up to Maya who gave his arm a few gentle pats, speaking to him quietly.

Ducking under the beacon's supports and hopping over the sandstone base, he emerged, looking over the repeaters and instantly seeing the problem.

"Hey, Aiden? She's right, we missed a repeater, and it's making the redstone disconnect on the south side." He said, looking up to the fireworks tower and shielding his eyes from the sun, ignoring Aidens _"What?!"_

"Hey, uh, Olivia right? Thanks, we appreciate the tip!"

Up by the dispensers, Jesse swatted Olivia's arm. "Way to go, 'Liv."

"Oh leave me alone! Did I not say _just this morning_ that there's only so much I can take?"

"No?" Axel turned, looking at her in confusion.

"Don't worry about it Axel, it was before you got back at the tree house." Jesse said, holding out a hand in his direction, then looking to Olivia. "I literally can't believe the two of you got into a shouting match over redstone, and then helped them out of spite."

"Hey, thanks for all that nice stuff you said." Axel said, easily diffusing the situation and Olivia her down, making her sit back next to Jesse.

"Yeah, thanks for getting mad on our behalf, I guess. Like, thanks for protecting our honor."

"Personally my honor's never felt more safe in its life."

"You're welcome, and I_ did_ mean every word. I was mad, but I wasn't just saying whatever I needed to prove our build was fine." Olivia said, bringing a leg up to her chest and crossing her arms around it.

"Aw." Axel pressed a hand over his chest.

"You shut it."

Jesse smiled at her, retrieving her bag of sunflower seeds at the request of her rumbling stomach. "So we're all cooled down then? Did you return from your arctic expedition? Or is the pain of having your redstone work insulted too much to bear."

"Maybe." Olivia sniffed.

"Ah, she's fine."

"Good, then we can start work on the creeper after we've eaten. That all right with you guys?"

Olivia gave a nod, feeling for her bag of food behind her and setting it in her lap. Axel quickly held up both his pointer fingers in sudden realization.

"Oh, oh, hold on. I had this sweet idea before Aiden interrupted food time." He pointed to their snacks with his hand, "If I may, ladies?"

Jesse silently pushed her bag to him, leaning back on her palms as Olivia slowly slid her own bag over, eyeing him.

"What are you planning, Axel." She said, suspicion dripping over her words like a thick honey.

"You'll see, just hang on." He grinned, turning his back to them with all three of their foodstuffs.

"If you're eating everything I'm kicking you off this tower." Jesse teased, poking him in the back.

"I'm not! Just be patient."

They could hear paper rustling, and Jesse leaned to the side, trying to get a look. He turned around, proudly handing them back their snacks.

"...Okay?" Olivia looked at her bag then to him.

"Open them."

Jesse did as he said, her face breaking into a smile, "Oh, nice! I should've thought of this while packing!"

Her bag contained an even amount of jerky, peaches, and sunflower seeds placed neatly around each other. She looked up at him with a smile, pulling out a stick of jerky.

"Thanks, Axel. Once again, you prove you are the most practical out of all of us."

"What? What is it?" Olivia asked, opening her own bag.

"Nothin', just a properly balanced snack." He said, crumpling up the cloth the salted meat had been wrapped in, ripping a bite off the single piece he kept.

"Um, no. Pause. Axel, what about you? You can't just not eat."

He waved her off. "Nah, I'm fine. I'm probably gonna eat my body weight in food tonight, anyway."

"I'm gonna have to disagree there. The first part at least, not the second—you do you; unless it's giving us all your food to eat while you sit there and starve for the next hour." Jesse said, snatching the crumpled ball from beside him before he could grab it, moving closer to Olivia who seemed to have the same idea as her and smoothing it out. They filled the square of canvas so they all had the same portion size. She placed it out over the wood between herself and Axel.

"Guys, I'm telling you, I don't need any." He said earnestly.

"You literally put together the foundation for this thing yourself." She rapped the wood under her with her knuckles, "Like, you did so much heavy lifting today. You need calories! Protein! I'm not gonna watch you pass out while you're up here and then roll the wrong way and fall to your death just because you decided it would be a good idea to give us all your food and not think about yourself."

"Specific but true. Now eat up buttercup!" Olivia smiled.

He grumbled something about Reuben being gone and him being the one babied, but placed the food in his lap, downing the seeds in one mouthful

"Chew, jeez!" Jesse scolded.

Axel leaned over her and made a loud, over the top noise of irritation through his nose, making Jesse snort with laughter and push him off her.

"Quit it! Eat your food you dork!"

They sat in silence, all eating rapidly to fill their empty stomachs. Olivia hadn't touched her breakfast that morning she was so nervous, Axel had been busy setting the support wires for Reuben's mask, ensuring the crocheted dragon head wouldn't collapse, and Jesse slept through it.

The short girl emptied her water and set the glass bottle down over their empty bags with a satisfying breath, wiping her mouth. Blowing out a theatrical sigh, she stretched herself over Olivia's shoulder, nearly closing her eyes. She watched the rolling lava from a cobblestone generator a few booths away, letting out a yawn as the breeze ruffled and toyed with her hair.

"Move." Olivia mumbled, pushing away.

"Nooo…" Jesse whined as she was forced to sit up. Olivia pulled her legs up and rolled onto her side, using Jesse's lap as a headrest.

"The pillow cannot become the pillee, it doesn't work like that Olivia."

_"Pillee?"_ Axel asked.

"Yeah, like the person who's using a pillow. Now scooch." She said, pulling at his arm until he moved closer. Jesse was draped over his side in a matter of seconds, Olivia grunting irritably at the movement.

The three sat in a comfortable, uninterrupted silence before Axel spoke.

"Jesse. You've got a little friend." He whispered.

"You're not little Axel, you're like six feet five inches tall. You've hit your head on every doorway in Beacontown." She mumbled.

"No, no, on your leg."

"Olivia?" She asked, confused.

"No—hold on." He reached out to her calf, gently plucking something from the surface of her overalls and bringing his finger to her eye-level. "A little millipede friend."

"Aw…"

Lukas sat with an elbow on his knee and a fist under his chin, watching Maya and Gill wrestle each other with Aiden, who was leaning against a pillar. It appeared the whole competition had silently agreed to hunker down for a break, the group of three across from them seemingly the start of it. He wondered if they knew how loud they were, especially from such a height. They were currently discussing what sounded like millipedes. At least, Jesse and the large boy were. They were leaning against each other like it was the most casual thing in the world. Olivia appeared knocked out, head in Jesse's lap as she dozed.

"Okay then. Let's discuss—I mean, like, pros and cons."

"Pros and cons. I hate the number of legs that there are." The taller of the two said, idly pulling on a lock of Jesse's dark hair.

"Bad to look at." She added

Lukas saw him nod in agreement, "Bad to look at."

He puzzled over the three's relationship. Their chemistry as a team was undeniable. But as a group of friends they argued and yelled, like his own was prone to do; but _unlike_ his team, they were inseparable. You could rarely see one without another. He hadn't believed Aiden when he told him they all lived together in a single tree house, but it explained how domestic they could act around one another; unafraid to very publicly fuss over each other and comfortable enough that casual touches seemed the norm: hugs, messing with hair, leaning against a shoulder, falling asleep on another, the list went on. It was less like a friend group and more like a family. What kind of family, he wasn't sure, but Aiden and the other's made wild and often uncomfortable guesses about them to laugh over. He'd wondered more than once what it would be like if he and his friends shared the same dynamic, or what their own dynamic must look like to Jesse's group. Probably terrible. He was fully aware of the unnecessary dichotomy between them, and he could admit most of it, if not all, came from Aiden.

He had a saturated, brash personality that didn't mesh well with other's, especially Jesse's. It certainly didn't help that he seemed to dial it up to one hundred whenever she was around. He didn't know what Aiden's beef was with her, but he tried to stay out of it. He would prefer peace, even neutral tolerance, but he usually left people's problems to themselves, never getting majorly involved unless he was sure he could deescalate whatever the Issue was.

The relaxed conversation above had descended into shouting, and_ "MILLIPEDES ARE COOL AND AHEAD OF THEIR TIME!"_ Was the last audible thing from the tail end of the argument before Olivia woke up and screeched at them.

He hid a laugh through a cough. Aiden must have been listening to them too, as he rolled his eyes and made a show of conking his head against the wooden beam behind him.

"Do they ever shut up?" He groaned, thwacking his head against the hard surface one last time before lolling it towards Lukas. "I swear, they're more annoying by the year."

Lukas shrugged. Listening to them talk was better than the grunts and yells from the impromptu wrestling match below them between Maya and Gill. They were beginning to roll too close towards the red torches lighting up their redstone's vector circuit.

"Hey, careful not to mess up the redstone, guys. Aiden and I just fixed it." He called down.

"Careful not to mess up your hair!" Maya shot back, nasally laugh cut short by Aiden's glare.

"Er, yeah, you got it Lukas." She said, Gill pinned beneath her and mutely banging his fist against the ground.

"Thanks."

"No problem!" She said, wrapping her legs around Gill's middle and vaulting him over with a yell.

Lukas winced, and found himself watching, waiting for Gill to yield so he could pull Maya off him if need be. Aiden soon joined him, crouching down with a bored look as he drummed his fingers against the leather of his jacket. They remained this way for a period before Lukas noticed just how quiet their neighbors had grown and looked back to booth five. He stood, his light eyebrows raised in a look of bewilderment.

"What? What is it?" Aiden asked, looking up at him from where he had settled.

"Check it out." He pointed to the heaps of green wool blocks, watching Jesse as she held one of the de-sized, floating cubes in her palm, spinning it with a finger. Axel and Olivia jumped from the ladder to join her, her runt pig coming up to her side. She leaned down and showed the pig the rotating block. What was the pig's name again? He swore he knew it. Ribbon? Rumon? He shook his head to himself, it wasn't important.

"Just what the hell are they doing?" Aiden stood, absentmindedly shaking Lukas' shoulder like the answer would fall out of the other's jacket, "I thought those clowns were done."

"I don't know, so did I."

"Help me get Gill and Maya separated! We need the group for this."

"Need the group for what, exactly?"

_'Needing the group'_ apparently translated to _'Get everyone together and hide behind the extra sandstone so we can scope the situation out.'_

Lukas sat with half-lidded eyes, watching Aiden pull their friends into peeking over the red sandstone, looking at Jesse's group cover their tower in blocks of green wool.

"Guys."

"Just a second Lukas, I need to know what they're trying to play at." Aiden whispered loudly. "And would you get down! You're giving us away!"

He sighed, looking up at the sky with a silent _why me_ before crouching to his friends' levels.

"Aiden, man, I don't think they're trying to pull the wool over our eyes—pun entirely unintended—I think they're just decorating their build. Leave them to it, our beacon's not going to lose just because they decided to break out some wool."

"He's got a point." Maya whispered.

"Yeah, yeah you're right I guess. I'm just… I'm curious."

"Well, you guys have your stakeout then, I'm going to get us some food. Sound good?" Lukas said, standing and brushing off his jeans.

"Dude, that's more than good. Take some of my emerald chips if you need." Aiden looked back with a grin, pointing to his drawstring bag with a thumb.

"Don't worry about it, I can pay for you guys." He said, throwing his legs over the red sandstone blocks and exiting their booth.

Jesse took out another wool block from her Inventory, the small cube jittering as it expanded in her hands and she plunked down the soft material. She and Olivia were putting the Creeper's middle together as Axel made the feet, all agreeing early on to work on the face together. Opening her inventorying with a flick of her hand to check how she was doing in terms of wool, she was down to about three blocks. She swung over and around to reach the ladder, sliding down the side grips and deftly landing on the ground. She sent Axel a smile as she wandered over to the chest, humming to herself as she kicked it open and dug around the orderly wool. She'd noticed earlier her hands had begun to stain green, not like she had the time or resources to just take off and scrub her hands raw.

Pulling out the least splotchy blocks of the wool, She close the chest, stopping when she saw Lukas pass by their booth. He lifted his hand up in greeting, letting it linger in the air as he passed before sticking his hand in his pocket. He abruptly rushed off before she could even consider ignoring him, his ears pink.

Jesse rolled her eyes. She did not need this today.

She approached Axel, who was looking over the feet, and slapped his back in quick succession with both hands excitedly, "Aw man, that looks so good! We're gonna win this for sure!"

"_Yeah_, we will! It really turned out to be a happy little mistake that the dye job was so bad and the blocks didn't come out a uniform green. Adds texture."

"It does?" She asked, stepping back to get a better view and look up at their progress for the first time. It did have the illusion of a Creeper's real skin, all except for her section which she had been trying to keep a consistent green color.

"Now Jesse, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but your area's throwing the whole thing off."

"I'm willing to agree, but how can you mean that in any kind of nice way?" She said, voice raising and octave as she made her way back over to the chest to grab wool in variations of green, fully intending on redoing her work.

"I just do." He shrugged, "I didn't mean it in like, a rude way."

"Okay, fair. I guess." She mixed the new greens into her inventory, shutting the chest as she absently inspected her green hands. She then proceeded to slump her head and shoulders back, making a whining noise in the back of her throat, "I've gotta do it all again."

"You don't need to. I mean it's not ruining the theme any." Axel said, stopping her with a hand as she began heading back to the side ladder. "You just gotta… y'know, pop a few blocks out here and there and replace them with a different green. Easy."

She heaved a sigh of relief, leaning forwards against Axel's arm with her forehead, "I'd be dead without you. I would have just died right now if you hadn't been here. All that green took me so long to place!"

She moved back, holding her hands out, "I mean look at my fingers!"

"Hey, you're not special." He chortled, holding out his own green hands. Jesse slapped the pair together.

"Whatever. I say I am. I've been messing with like, exclusively the greenest wool I could find in the chest, so I win the idiot contest today."

"Um, no way am I letting you take my crown that easy."

"Guys!" Olivia yelled from above, "Let's get to it! I want to finish this soon, almost everyone is done besides us!"

"You heard the lady Jess, get going."

"Shut up, Axel." She snorted, making her way back to the latter she climbed up to Olivia.

"So, can I ask why it was Axel who told me I was setting the wool down wrong and not you, the person working right next to me?" She asked, attempting to itch her nose without her green hands touching her face.

"I figured you were doing your own thing and didn't want to throw off your groove."

"Okay, that's not—Woah! What is up with your hands?"

Olivia held up the appendages in question. The tips of her fingers had become a pitch black.

"Oh, turns out if you've got green on your hand and try to handle redstone without gloves, you're gonna have a case of concentrated pigments mixing on your hands—literally." She was looking over her hands like she was admiring a manicure.

"Was there an issue with the redstone?" Jesse asked, taking a hand and inspecting it for herself. It was a bit creepy—like someone had airbrushed the tips of her hands and fingernails a monochrome black.

"No, no issues. I took a break to make about a dozen or so solid redstone blocks."

"What? Why?"

Olivia held a black finger to her lips, winking. "You'll see."

"Come on! Tell me!"

"Nope. You'll have to wait if you want to see my cool idea."

On the other side of the fenced area, past the booths and stage, Lukas stood huddled in a cramped, wooden shop. He shook the emerald chips in his hand, sweltering in the crowd of bodies despite having tied his jacket around his waist and tugging at the front of his short-sleeved shirt.

Hearing the call of his order number, he stepped forward, sliding several emerald coins across the counter to the stall owner. He waved a hand at the offered changed, taking the four servings of sweet rolls wrapped in fat maple leaves from the counter, balancing them close against his chest. He thanked the man, folding his old coin bag into his jean's pocket before turning and leaving.

He ducked his head under the cloth hanging from the entrance to the makeshift front patio of the small, wooden tea hut nestled between two trees, exiting the packed shop and heading back the way he came.

The smooth cut stones of the square the building competition was centered near was lined with more food and game stalls than there had been that morning, people slowly flooding in and vendors setting up their booths and stalls. Weaving through the crowd and giving apologetic looks to those he bumped shoulders with, he broke through into a considerably more sparse path, featuring only two or three game stalls currently occupied by children. Taking a moment to breathe, he leaned against a tree, feeling the rough bark press into his back.

He pinched his eyes shut. He was still embarrassed. Embarrassed over thinking a threat had been playful flirting, a runt pig scaring the living daylights out of him, and then whatever that wave was he'd given Jesse on his way here.

Lukas pressed and hand over his eyes, just wanting to forget all of it and go back to knowing Jesse as a distant acquaintance. It's not like he'd ever been particularly into her, then or now. His friends had made fun of him endlessly for actually thinking she was flirting with him. He didn't know what he was thinking. It was all enough for him to let a crucial error be overlooked in their beacon's redstone.

He took a measured breath, brushing back a few loose strands of hair from his forehead and pushing off from the tree. He walked the rest of the way back in silence, his thoughts kept falling into memories of every embarrassing thing he'd ever done in his life.

Attention elsewhere, his eyebrows knitted themselves together when he walked into a large shadow. He scrunched his nose up in confusion and looked, balking and nearly dropping the food in his arms at the massive, woolen Creeper that had risen high before him. He rushed over to his booth, their beacon setup nothing but a tiny trinket compared to the build next to theirs.

Jesse smiled to herself, scouring the side of the Creeper and pushing herself up from the latter, accepting a hand from Axel as she stood. They looked to Olivia, who gave a confident nod of her head, placing her hand over the lever that would activate the dispensers behind them. They had waited nearly an hour for the sun to begin setting before deciding to set off the fireworks. In that time, Olivia had added blocks of redstone behind the wool, lighting up the middle of the Creeper with the Illusions of sparks jumping off of it like it was getting ready to explode.

"And now—the moment of truth." Jesse looked past Axel to Olivia, giving her a thumbs up as Reuben ran out past the base of the Creeper for a better view of the display.

"Here goes nothing." She said. Axel and Jesse turned to look straight up as Olivia hit the switch.

Sudden, burning colors etch themselves into Jesse's eyes as fiery sparks whipped the sky, bursting through the sunset. The colors painted themselves on a canvas of deep orange and Jesse was so glad they'd waited until late evening. The air took on a tincture of gunpowder, a smell that would have taken Jesse back to bonfire nights if it hadn't been for the potent smell of beetroot. She had to look away as residue rained down, catching in her eyes and making them water.

"Oh man, this looks so cool. We'll win this for sure." Axel said, grinning widely.

Olivia coughed and held her nose, tapping Axel's shoulder to draw his attention to a gathering crowd. "The Creeper was definitely the right way to go."

"Yep, people are looking at us." Jesse sang, scanning the small crowd of whooping onlookers.

"Good build, man!" One hollered, a general chorus of agreement spreading through the crown in the form of fists pounding the air.

She noticed Aiden skirting around the sides of the crowd, glowering as he stood back and cupped his hands to his mouth, "It's just a bunch of dyed wool!"

"_You're_ just a bunch of dyed wool!" Axel yelled back.

Aiden looked around at the people who had gathered to watch the fireworks, growling in frustration and scanning his surroundings when his eyes landed on two blocks of stone containing lava that acted as waste disposal. He slammed his fist over the closest front block, sucking it into his inventory with a feigned, "Whoops!"

The base of Reubens wings had lost their solidity through the course of the day, and they dragged behind him limply. He made his way through the crowd, basking in the petting and occasional cooing people would give him as he passed by. He plopped down on his rear just outside the booth, butt wagging against the ground as he joyfully watched the bursts of color in slowly but steadily darkening skies, the sun inching its way to the horizon.

An unanticipated searing heat reached his skin, and he jumped up with a screeching squeal, running in a fast loop and spotting both the lava and his flaming wings. He ran in a panic, screeching as Jesse spotted him.

"Reuben! Reuben's on fire!" She yelled, hurrying along the thin head of the creeper and jumping down the ladder two steps at a time, "Reuben, no! Come back!"

Shrieking, Reuben careened around the path, heading towards an open side gate that exited into the west woods.

"It was Aiden, that punk!" Axel bellowed from above, looking to him as Aiden backed away from the spreading lava.

"The lava! It's getting closer!"

"It'll ruin the build!"

"But we need to get that thing off Reuben! It's making him run in a blind panic. He's going to leave the area and be completely lost, he doesn't know those woods!" Olivia shouted.

Jesse looked up as Olivia and Axel made their way down the ladder, Axel jumping down at the halfway point followed by Olivia, who landed on top of him. She rose to her feet, standing on his back and looking to Jesse with palpable distress.

"You guys stay and save the build, I'll get Reuben." She called, running to grab her pack and buckle it tight over her chest, thrusting her training sword down into the tool strap on her overalls and jumping into her boots.

"On it." Axel groaned.

"We got it covered Jesse, be careful, it's almost dark out."

"I'll see you in a bit!" She yelled back, forcefully shoving Aiden out of her way as she ran after Reuben.

"We'll meet up with you at EnderCon!" Olivia called, falling back with a yell as Axel got to his feet without warning.

* * *

i had fun with this chapter even tho the last part was difficult because i had no idea how to write down such a short scene into the story and not make it look like bad pacing. anyway, i really love reviews on what you guys think, even just a few words is enough. see u next time for a 9k petra chapter lmao

also yes! there was a hell word in this one. two of them to be exact. im trying to keep my usual cursing down but im allowing myself some stuff thats been said in canon dialogue


	4. Chapter 4

Ok so super sorry this took a week to post, i didnt want to post it until i was at least somewhat happy with chapter 5, and that took way long than expected. And once i was sort of satisfied with it, i thought i might as well wait until monday to post to get some more chapters under my belt. I just get stressed out when I don't have more than one fully written chapter in google docs before posting, and i definitely sort of rushed posting chapter 3 because i didnt want to wait. I also just had sort of a difficult week in general and that didnt help anything lol

So at the time of writing this i was mostly done with writing out the first draft for ch 6, which absolutely kicked my entire ass. like it was so hard to write. Its STILL kicking my ass tbh because i merged chapter 7 with it and i still need to go back in and clean that mess up.

So a few things:

****As someone who runs, do not do what jesse does. I am again taking a lot of stuff from my own experiences and using it in my writing

*** Warning for spiders and spooky zombie happenings but HEY its september lets get into the halloween spirit

*** I drew this story's jesse: jawd DOT tumblr DOT com SLASH post SLASH 187830577289  
Its still a WIP, and i know i said you can imagine jesse looking however you want, and you can. we can all have our own headcanon appearances here. I'll try to roll back on anymore appearance indicators of jesse after this chapter aside from clothes and another thing thats going to happen in this chapter thats a little more permanent aside from the baldric.

*** theres my blog too, if anyone has a tumblr and is interested. I reblog mainly dumb things and Aesthetics™ and post art. I have a second one fruitpacket that im more active on, and ive got two aesthetics blogs, and basically im just a very extra person. Might make one for this story, maybe with character mood boards and stuff just for fun idk?

*** I changed one diamond to three diamonds. It seemed weird to get hyped about a single diamond bc like what are you gonna make. a shovel? also bc ive fought wither skeletons trying to get wither heads and it was Not Fun to deal with or worth just one diamond

Not sure if im happy with this chapter. I think i am, but the beginning feels off to me. Im no good at writing the scenes where you walk jesse around and do quicktime events. Like they are super hard and a major reason i had trouble with chapter 5 and 6

ONE LAST THING, would you guys want a more set schedule? Like a chapter every mondays/tuesdays or is awkwardly waiting for the next chapter and never really knowing when it will come out good w u guys. Bc im leaning towards the former, lmk. Anyway enjoy 9k words of petra and jesse ft. A Bunch Of Monsters Jump The Shit Out This Poor girl And Her Pig And It Isnt Even 9 PM Yet.

Alternate title: Jesse kicks things

* * *

The last sliver of sunlight fell behind the horizon as the sky pulled a blanket of stars over itself, leaving nothing behind but deep purple clouds that were nearly drained of the sunset's colors. Crickets chirped slowly in the brisk night air, almost inaudible over the singing croaks pouring out into the late evening darkness from the Wood frogs hidden beneath leaves and dirt.

Jesse stumbled to a halt, legs straining and shins throbbing from the long, uninterrupted run. She could feel sweat running down her legs and back like bugs crawling down her skin. The chilled air was seeping through her clothes and drying her throat as she breathed heavily, hunched over with her palms resting on her knees.

"Reuben?!" Her voice came out hoarse and cracked. Jesse paused between breaths to swallow, clearing her throat as she straightened, looking around the unfamiliar trees. "Reuben, where are you!"

She rubbed at her aching shoulders. This is what she gets for running out of form with a bag strapped to her. Falling into a slow walk, she looked around cautiously and cupped a hand to her mouth, calling, "Just… give me an oink if you can hear me!"

The meager hope she clutched to sank from between her fingers when there was no response. She rounded a tall tree with thick leaves, squinting her eyes through the low light and spotting tracks against hard patches of mud. Approaching, Jesse kneeled down, delicately feeling over the cloven prints pressed into the ground.

"Hm, pig tracks." She mumbled under her breath.

She took one last look behind her before heading in the direction the prints were facing, jumping at every noise she heard.

Jesse stopped at a broken down well, hands holding tight to the straps of her pack as she looked around the growing darkness nervously. She stepped up to the crumbling cobblestone, peeking her head down into the darkness.

"Reuben?" Her voice was hushed but echoed against the worn down rock. Curiously, she took a pebble in her hand and held it over the opening, letting it slip from her fingers. She counted to five before it broke the surface of audibly mushy water, layered with scum and dead leaves. Pulling a face, she stepped backwards and startled herself when an old piece of wood crunched under the heel of her boot. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks, gathering herself,

"Okay, get it together, Jesse." She whispered, turning and kicking the pieces of the wood far away in the most annoyed of manners. They rolled to a stop near another bare section of ground. She strained her eyes, catching a glimpse of where the tracks continued.

She moved to walk in its direction, but instead nearly screamed when her shirt caught on the prickly leaves of a passing bush. Angrily, she picked up a stick and beat the outstretched bush away more than was probably necessary, throwing it to the ground where it snapped in two at the force. One of the halves ricocheted back towards her, barely missing her shin as she jumped out of the way.

"Reuben, I really don't want to be out here!" She yelled, stepping over the the snapped stick and bypassing the bush which had grabbed her, giving it a dark look.

Pausing at the small clearing of visible ground, multiple tracks crossed over the soil. Jesse noticed for the first time their size. It was difficult to discern if there was a track an adolescent sized runt, the trails overlapping each other in a frenzied manner.

She heaved a breath, rubbing her hands over her goosebumped arms, her sweat drying on her skin and leaving her nearly freezing. Spotting what looked like the shaggy leaves of a carrot stalks suffocating between dark green sprouts of pigweed ironically enough, she found her lips quirking upwards and veered off the nature-beaten path. Crouching down, she felt the waxy foliage, leaning down and smelling the bitter, soapy aroma and pulling away, nodding to herself. Wild carrot and hemlock could be identical if she didn't know what to check for; she'd had too many close calls with it and Reuben before. Twisting it around and giving the root enough leeway for her to pull, she yanked up. She nearly fell back, not expecting it to come loose with hardly any give, but stopped herself from hitting her head using an arm. She smiled down at long carrot, brushing dirt off of it.

"Hey, Reuben! I got a carrot for you!" She held the root up, half expecting to see him come careening down the path towards her at top speeds. It was her go-to way of finding him when they were out gathering in the forest and he wandered off. She was met only with the stillness of the settling night.

"Just where are you?" She muttered, pocketing the carrot after deftly ripping off the long, leafy stems from the root.

Anxiety was setting heavier in her chest by the minute. Her eyebrows were pulled together as she stopped and turned in a circle, looking over her dark surroundings.

"Reuben? Where are you, bud?"

Taking a moment to ground herself, Jesse closed her eyes and took deep breaths in through her nose, and out there her mouth. She had been attempting to count to ten when her ears picked up grunts, distinctly pig, and her eyes flew open. She abruptly legged it, taking a sharp turn as she rounded a corner and almost slipping over the dead leaves. She came to a stop at a herd of pigs and pulled her hands up to her hip with a meek sigh, leaning her hip against a tree

"Reuben? You in there?" She asked, pushing herself off from the wood and moving inwards, scattering the group. Examining the ground, she noticed every track led back to a specific pig. She ran a hand through her hair, uncaring of her clip that was losing its grip and sliding down "Stupid pigs. Stupid hair. Stupid-stupid-_stupid._"

She roughly tied her hair back, clip and all, into a sloppy ponytail at the nape of her neck, looking around helplessly and wishing he would just pop out of the herd and come running to her. She would grab him and they would head hack to EnderCon together, meet with Axel and Olivia, and enjoy the rest of the night together.

"Reuben?" She tried again, a few oinking pigs curiously looking her over as they reentered the clearing, the few braver ones sniffing at her pocket. "No, not you guys—okay, all pigs but Reuben? Shut up."

She paused, knowing not to let her hope raise but still giving it a chance. A few pigs oinked, tearing grass from the ground and loudly chewing, but it was otherwise silent.

She stalked off, shooing away a pig that had followed after her trying to get at the carrot sticking out of her overalls. She shoved through a small field, not paying attention as she threaded through tendrils of tall grass, pushing back the spires of tall reeds that reached up and tickled her chin. Her legs collided with something and she fell back with a yelp as a chicken tumbled out, squawking in equal parts terror and anger. She held a hand to her chest, watching the bird proceed past her and disappear back into the grass after leveling her with a glare. Hesitantly standing, she wiped the back of her clothes off and heaved out a sigh, growing tired of the sudden flares of adrenaline. It was leaving her in an increasingly cold sweat and unexpectedly hyper aware of how dark it had grown. She could hear her own wavered breaths over the forest's ambiance.

"Reuben, it's getting scary out here." She commented quietly, wading through the grass and stumbling back onto the scant ground.

She jumped down a short but steep overhang, eyes immediately training on a birch tree with a bent, smoking wing arching out from a sparse bush behind it.

"Reuben—_Reuben!_ Oh no, no, no, no. You there, buddy?" Jesse rushed to the tree, shoving aside the bush to reveal Reuben's costume, smoldering limply on the ground. She carefully lifted one of the wings, a sense of relief pouring over her when there was nothing but his outfit's harness, which looked chewed through. She exhaled, looking over the remnants of Axel's hard work before stomping the small embers out lest it catch a dry bundle of tinder on fire.

Her spirits rose at the sight of a redstone-lit tunnel carved into a rocky crag, visible between a group of trees. She twisted her way around the trunks, slowly stepping into the cave. Once inside, the moonlight light died like it was being swallowed and she was overtaken by the red glow of the torches.

She could see an end to the tunnel exiting back outside not far off. Jesse figured a semi-lit cave was better than being out in the open, even if the outside seemed brighter than the cave's darkness pulling at her body. The lights flicker, casting an ominous red glow throughout the passage and making her hairs stand on end. Her footsteps echoing off the walls and reverberating inside her head. Reaching up against the side on her tip-toes, she managed to dislodge one of the ember-like torches, catching it in her other hand. It did little to raise the visibility, but it was a comforting weight in her hands as she dragged her fingers across the wall, picking up dust and grime. Whoever mined the cave had tunneled for the softest coal, hardly giving a thought to how straight the line was as she made sharp, angular turns around every other corner.

The lights grew low as she made it to the halfway point. She curled her thumb and pointer finger around the base of the torch to free the hand and feel and feel her way across the jagged walls with both hands. Stepping through a stagnant puddle, she pressed her back against the wall as she skimmed past a dark hole, unwilling to face away from it. She spotted a bumpy silhouette and raised her light despite every cell in her body telling her to book it then and there. The light reflected off of eight shining eyes of a massive white spider nearly as tall as she was—a brood queen. The two regarded each other for a moment, Jesse's breath stolen from her body as she stood frozen in place. When it didn't leap at her but instead just twitched a mandible, she took a small step, then another, and another, until she was running out of the cave, redstone torch forgotten on the ground as she exited out into the night, the light from the moon almost blinding compared to the prior darkness. Supporting herself against a thin, towering rock at the outside of the mouth, she listened for the sound of claws skittering across cave walls from inside the cavern. When a full minute passed, and still she heard nothing, Jesse let out a shaking breath, her legs weak. She laughed breathlessly, looking down at herself; she was so terrified her whole body was trembling.

Outside the cave was a dense plot of long shifting grass, and she stopped dead in her laugh, nearly bolting when it rustled loudly.

"…Reuben?" She said; so quiet her own ears barely picked up her voice.

She forced one leg in front of the other, her body feeling like it was trying to rust itself into place so it didn't have to get any closer to the foliage. She broke free when she heard the sounds of whimpering and parted the greenery.

Jesse scarcely kept herself from screaming when Reuben jumped into her, but soon found herself on the ground with her arms wrapped around his quivering body.

"Reuben! There you are!" The edges of her eyes stung as she held him close. He was still whimpering under his breath, but his tremors had subsided. "I was so worried!"

She pressed a hand over his jaw, turning his head this way and that as she looked him over, satisfied when she concluded he wasn't injured aside from a few superficial scrapes. Jesse felt like her chest was compressing over her heart as he whined, shoving his face in between her body and her arm like we were trying to disappear.

She pulled the carrot from her pocket, "Hey, it's okay, you're okay. Come on, Reub. Want a carrot? Huh?"

He slowly pulled his head out from her armpit, sniffing the dirt covered root before gingerly biting into it, nibbling across its edges.

"There you go. Everything's fine now, we're together." She said, smoothing a hand over his head and rubbing behind an ear as he swallowed. He gently bumped her chest with his forehead, giving her a small oink.

"Oh, I am so happy to see you. Come on, let's get out of here." She stood, setting Reuben down only at his insistence. "Hope you're ready for some more exercise. We've gotta hurry back to town if we don't want to run into—"

Jesse stopped, a horrible groan sounding nearby that had her blood turning to ice so fast it felt like she'd been turned to stone. Reuben made a low, quavering noise, squeezing in between the spaces of her calves.

"We need to go. Now." She whispered, looking around them frantically. She ushered Reuben forward, walking slowly and wincing with each step. They sounded like they were stomping through dead twigs compared to the still woods. In her gripping fear, it began to feel like one of those places which had no palpable reason to exist, every shadow moving out of the corner of her eye and the sound of the night coming at her from every angle, disorienting her.

Jesse only realized she had set them off into a random direction when a rippling, shallow stream grew close and the sound of mushy leaves whispered from under their feet.

She picked a hesitating Reuben up from underneath his arms, quickly hauling him over the brook as her low boots filled with frigid water.

Shuddering, she dropped him to his feet, sitting over a flat rock and yanking them off, emptying the shoes as she looked around, eyes not leaving the surrounding darkness. Reuben kicked his upper body up against the rock, resting his chin over her leg and looking up at her worriedly. She let a tiny smile pull at her face, rubbing a thumb over his chubby cheeks.

"It's fine. What matters right now is finding some shelter we can hide out in. I passed an old well looking for you, maybe if we can find it again there could be an abandoned cabin or shack in the area."

He pushed his snout against her hand affectionately, then suddenly shrieked, making her jump. She swung around, hurriedly throwing her boots on and standing to her feet, but saw nothing. Reuben was still screeching at her, scrambling back.

"What, Reuben, what is it?!" She turned to him, following his line of sight to a spot above her head.

A giant spider had been sneaking down a thick strand of web above her from a branch. She barely stumbled out of the way in time as it dropped down. It looked like a juvenile, only a little larger than her head. Not even thinking, she ran at it and kicked it into the air, watching it soar over the stream with a shrill noise. It landed on its back and twitched, before bursting into a vapor with a resonating sound, like a popped bubble of heavy mist.

They stared in silence, then looked to the other. Jesse broke into faltering, nervous laughs. It was cut short as a crowd of adult giant spiders came surging down from the trees in a chorus of clicking and hissing, and her heart dropped straight down her chest. She looked around, squinting through the trees and seeing the thick layers of webs tangled across the girth-y branches. They had been walking through a massive nest.

"That was the baby, we killed the baby, Reuben run!" She said without taking a single breath, turning on her heel and bounding in the opposite direction from the cluster of long limbs and pincers.

Reuben was keeping pace with her as she squelched across the terrain in her wet shoes, picking up a rock and throwing it uselessly back at their pursuers.

Numerous giant, angry spiders chased after her at a remarkable slow pace as they tried to climb over one another, easily tipping over onto their backs and jamming up against each other. Arching hastily around a grotto, Jesse grabbing Reuben and pressing her back flush against the rocks, pressing a hand over his mouth to stop his high-pitched squealing. The spiders scurried past their hiding spot, and she could have collapsed in relief—which she did, releasing Reuben and falling to a knee, breathing heavily. She wiped a hand over her forehead and blew out a long sigh.

"I think… I think we're good."

Not moments after speaking, a wheezing noise that sounded like a lit fuse came up on her left, and she cried out at the sight of an expanding Creeper, its brittle skin lighting up from inside its body. Reuben followed as she took off, hurriedly beckoning him. Jesse turned and watched the Creeper dim, returning to its slim shape and looking after them with its gaping mouth.

She slid over a compact rise of dirt, landing in a crouch behind the weak cover and searching her surroundings. "Okay, we made—"

An arrow missed her face by an inch, causing her to shriek and stumble back over a mortified Reuben. She looked up to an outcrop where a crumbling skeleton archer missing most of its ribcage was nocking another arrow, aiming at Reuben this time, the pig crying out. She tackled him as the arrow fired, rolling them out of the way and stopping them with her legs. She was instantly aware of a white-hot stinging spreading through the shell of her ear, followed by warm liquid dripping down her neck.

Reuben was practically screaming, standing on her leg and pounding her shoulder with his hooves, licking her ear.

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me, we need to move!"

He looked reluctant but ran, ensuring Jesse was on his tail. They sidestepped trees and dips in the ground, jumping over fungus covered logs and avoiding slippery, moss-covered stones.

Jesse ground to a halt, Reuben slamming into the back of her leg. An abnormally tall zombie with a stumped ankle and skin stretched taut over a skeleton that looked too large for its own body was hunched over on the path. A single distinctive, foggy white iris was fixated in their direction. Jesse held perfectly still, Reuben inching behind her. Her heartbeat was so loud in her ears she wondered if it could hear it pounding in her chest.

"Reuben." She whispered, "Stay behind me."

It took a step forwards, and Jesse unhinged the razor-like edge of the sheers in her pocket and chucked it at its head, surprising it.

She looked to Reuben._ "Go!"_

They ran, the zombie staggering behind them at an alarming speed Jesse hadn't been anticipating.

Over the clanging of the empty glass bottles in her pack and the hoarse caterwaul from the zombie behind them, she could hear the stomach-turning noise of its exposed ankle-bone beating against the ground. She grabbed Reuben and hurled them both out of the way as it leaped for them, rolling to a harsh stop as the back of her head painfully collided with a tree trunk. She pushed Reuben off in the opposite direction, shoving herself out of the way of the zombie that hadn't been unable to slow down in time and ran face first into the tree with a crunch.

She made a hard left, eyes darting around furiously as she surveyed the area for an escape between other monsters that had stumbled into the area. Her legs began to burn as they pounded across the ground. She skidded to a halt at the wall of zombies before them, Reuben hitting the back of her once more. Jesse scrambled for her sword, raising it in front of her. She ran forward swinging wildly, all thoughts of the forms she'd been teaching herself gone from her mind

"Back! Get back!" She nailed one across the head, making it stumble slightly to the side. She repeated the motion over and over again until it fell to the ground, raising the blunt weapons and stabbing the wood through the weak flesh and bone of its chest. It loudly burst into mist, knocking a few zombies back in the force.

She held out an arm, shielding a terrified Reuben, "Stay behind me, I've got you."

Advancing, she managed to take out a second zombie by gripping her sword like a mallet. She yelled, putting all her force into hitting the head off a third zombie sneaking up on her right, her training sword snapping in two after the hit and fading into a wispy dust. She looked at her hands in disbelief.

"No! Stupid wooden swords! Come on, let's go!"

The two barely made any headway before they immediately came to a halt at a scaling cliff, both looking up the steep rock of the dead end. Reuben was glued to the side of her leg, trembling like a leaf.

"I know it's bad, I'll think of something." Jesse said, trying to shuffle around him to face the hoard, but instead right in front of her stood the towering zombie, back bent strangely over her. She yelled, and in her panic to get away she tripped over her soggy shoes, landing back first against the ground on top of her pack. The air was knocked from their lungs hard enough that it took a moment to catch her breath amidst her body futilely trying to suck in air it couldn't find.

The zombie bent over her body before she could think to roll out of the way, so she instead quickly brought her legs up against its sternum and ribs, keeping its hands and face out of reach. Her muscles shook with force of it pressing its entire weight over her, arms swinging out just inches from her nose.

"Reuben, run!" She said through gritted teeth, "I'll meet you back in town, I promise!"

Reuben looked around, conflicted. Monsters of all kinds were making their way towards the commotion. Jesse coughed at the thick, foul blood that wept from the papery skin over its chest, dribbling over her.

"Get out of here! _Now!"_ She yelled with an intensity she had never used with him before. He took off shrieking through the monsters that turned and shambled after him, too slow to pose any threat.

Jesse slammed her heel into the zombie's ribs as hard as she could. She bought her leg in close again before yelling out and kicking it hard enough that something cracked and she was able to shove it off of her. Lurching away, she clambered onto all fours, breathing hard enough she thought she may throw up as she crawled away. She wiped splotches of dark blood from her face, looking over her shoulder. It had gotten to its feet—foot, and quickly fell into a blundering run after her. Her legs shook with fear and adrenaline as she pushed herself up, stumbling away, but skeletal hands clamped down over her pack, reeling her back and swinging Jesse upwards as she cried out in surprise.

She was turned and its face was suddenly too close. Her leg kicked out on instinct, nailing it in the jaw and crunching down over the weak bone; its black mouth drooped open wide, the jawbone held on now only by its skin. She struggled, kicking out again and making a disgusted noise as her foot collapsed into its chest. It swayed on its feet as she managed to pull loose the strap over her chest, falling heavily to the ground at its legs and running. She didn't get far before a spider slid in front of her and they both collided into the other.

_"Agh!"_ She kicked it off, backing up on her elbows and passing the large body of the gurgling zombie strewn over the ground, jaw crooked and blood rising out of its mouth that was opening and closing like a fish. It loudly blasted into mist, causing her to stop and shield herself, loose hair blowing from her face. The spider had taken the moment to jump over her prone form. Jesse shot out and grabbed the base of its dripping fangs inching towards her neck, her arm muscles beginning to shake and seize up.

_"Get—off—me—!"_

It was suddenly propelled away from her, and Jesse saw Petra shove its head down with her foot, pressing its fangs into the dirt as she repeatedly stabbed its thorax with a pickaxe until it popped noisily into dense smoke.

Dazed, she found herself being pulled up by Petra's, who was looking her over. The redhead turned to the approaching monsters, holding onto Jesse's hand and pulling her away.

"Come on, let's get you out of the open." She said, turning and bringing down her pickaxe hard through another spiders head. Jesse's rattled body unthinkingly gravitated the string it left behind towards her, drawing it into her inventory.

She was led from the thick of the forest and brought to a mine about half a mile from Beacontown, where Petra helped a hazy Jesse down a ladder and a set of creaking wooden stairs. The shorter girl's mind came out of its stunned state as they traveled through thin tunnels, past minecart tracks and boxes of labeled supplies. She tried to speak but was shushed every time, so obediently followed behind the other girl.

Petra ushered her into a cozy cavern through a padlocked iron door, brightly lit with oil lanterns and warmed by a short row of furnaces smelting what Jesse guessed was iron by the lingering smell it left in the air. She was pushed down onto what appeared to be a woolen sleeping bag.

"They got you good, huh? Just sit here." She said, rifling through a large chest off to the side.

"Do you live down here?" Jesse couldn't help but ask, pulling her ruined leather boots off. She frowned at the blisters covering her heels.

"Yep." She answered tersely, closing the chest and kneeling down next to her with a tweed bag of what looked like gauze and compact jars of pastes, a single fat jar of some thick, amber syrup shoved in the middle of it all. Petra set the bag down, placing a folded, long sleeve black shirt next to her. She grabbed Jesse's hand, slapping a wet cloth into it.

"Clean up and change shirts. You're covered in blood." She said, getting up and grabbing her pickaxe from where she'd placed It on a table, picking up a dirty cloth and wiping the pick off as she leaned against a wide crafting table.

"Thanks." Jesse said, in slight awe at the girl before her as she dabbed her face and neck with the rough linen. Dried cracks of dark blood stained the old looking cloth a muted brown.

"Don't mention it." She gave a slight upturn of her lips that Jesse could've missed if she weren't paying attention. "In all realness though, don't. I can't let people know I take on charity cases."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, I'll find a way to pay you back so that you don't have to stress over the heavy burden of knowing you helped someone without asking anything in return." She teased.

"I never said I wanted you to pay me back. It would be nice to receive some compensation, but I wasn't just going to leave you out there in the state that you were in." She said curtly, face tinted red as she turned away. "What were you doing out here, anyway? Weren't you at EnderCon?"

Unhooking her overalls and letting the denim fall down her chest, She started rolling off her shirt, careful of her throbbing ear.

"Reuben took off when it was getting dark and I went out to look for him. We kinda got lost."

"Reuben? Where is he?"

Jesse suddenly stood, her overalls abruptly falling down her legs. "Oh no, Reuben! He could still be out there!"

"Hey, hey, calm down. He's a smart little guy, I'm sure he followed the lights back to EnderCon." Petra said, placing her pickaxe down over a chest.

"The lights!" She slapped her forehead, "The_ lights!_ Why didn't I think of that when I got us so lost we were almost killed?"

"People don't think straight when they're scared."

"I wasn't _scared_." Jesse said indignantly. Petra rose an eyebrow and leaned on a leg,

"All right, so what if I was scared?! I had every right to be! First there was this creepy brood mother that just _stared_ at me, then I killed a baby spider and its whole-ass family rained down from the sky to like, avenge it I guess, and then this—this _zombie!_ It was like six feet tall and was power walking at me with a speed it had no business having!"

"Woah-woah-woah-woah." Petra stopped her in the middle of her spiel. "First of all, pull your overalls up and put that shirt on, you're standing in your underwear—"

"These are _PANTS_—"

"Second, you not only ran into a brood queen, but killed a youngling in a nest of spiders, essentially came across a mutated zombie, and…" She gestured at Jesse's ear, the dark haired girl rolling her eyes as she pulled up her overalls to her hips, holding them there.

"Skeleton archer."

"_And_ got shot by a skeleton archer, all within a time span of what? An hour, an hour and a half?"

"I think it was more like fifteen minutes." She grumbled, sitting down to wash away the blood that had soaked through her shirt and left a thin film over her shoulder, donning the black shirt when she felt clean. She assumed this was the smallest shirt Petra had, It was a little tight around the arms, but the material was thick, warm and had a neckline that stopped just before her throat. Her mood rose marginally as she rubbed her hands over the knitted pattern that was only visible to the touch. It had a sharp, metallic smell, with a whiff of saffron; earthy and salty-sweet, not unlike the girl in front of her.

"You're more resilient than I give you credit for, Jesse." Petra gave a short laugh, opening a chest and placing her pickaxe inside next to four others.

"And you didn't think I was resilient before?"

"Well, no."

"Yeah all right, fair." Jesse said, turning away and taking a roll of gauze when she received a nod from Petra. She took two strips and wrapped them thickly around both ankles over her blisters. She tightly wrapped and tied off the ends of the strips around the middle of her feet when Petra assured her it would keep the bandage in place longer.

Popping her hair clip out of her wild hair, she slid the tie out of her low ponytail and combed her hands through the messy locks.

"You're really worried about you hair when you've got a hole in your ear?" Petra snorted from where she leaned against the rocky wall.

"I care about my appeara—I've got a _what?_" She nearly yelled, hands stopping short in her long hair.

"Just what did you think I put that first aid kit down for?" Petra raised her eyebrows at her, pointing to the tan bag as she made her way over.

"My blisters?"

"Um, no. Your feet will live to see another day. That missing piece of cartilage on your left ear though?" She sucked air in through her teeth, "Can't say the same."

Jesse's hands hovered uselessly around her ear. "How—How bad is it?"

"Not bad. Don't worry, it's only a nick. Put your hands down, I don't want you touching it."

Jesse did as she was told, crossing her legs over Petra's lumpy blankets. "That was a lot of blood for only a nick."

"Cartilage always bleeds more than soft tissue of the same density, you're fine." She said, sitting on her knees and dragging the first aid over to her, lifting out the large jar and setting it roughly in Jesse's lap. "Hold that. I'm going to clean it, I don't trust you to do and not get an infection and die."

"What's this?" She turned over the unlabeled jar in her lap, watching the honey colored substance sluggishly move over the glass.

"Pine resin."

"Oh, okay." She said, watching Petra pour a bottle of a clear, sweet-smelling liquid onto a piece of torn cloth. "What for?"

Petra gave the girl on her bed a look. "I told you, I'm cleaning this. When I get the dried blood off this is going to start bleeding again. I'm gonna need something to stem that."

"So you're using pine resin." Jesse said. Petra sighed, heavily resting her hands over her thighs, looking at her seriously.

"Would you rather I give you stitches?"

"No, no, nope, no, you do what you need to, I'm good. Slather me with that tree sap."

Petra gave a huffing laugh through her nose, pressing a clean area of the wet cloth she'd given Jesse on either side of the missing triangle of flesh.

"Ow! Warn me!" She jumped, nearly yanking Petra's wrist away from her, but quickly thinking better of it.

"Don't be a baby." She cleaned the dried blood off, hastily pressing the square of concentrated sugar water over the open wound. She ignored Jesse's griping, unscrewing the lid of the jar in Jesse's lap and dipping a finger in, pushing back her hair and removing the cloth as she smeared it over the wound. She handed the lid to Jesse, who screwed it back. The dark haired girl moved to pin her hair away from her left ear with her clip. Sticky hair was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now.

"Thank you. So, like…" She trailed off, giving her a questioning look.

"What?" The other asked.

"Like, what do I do with this?" She clarified, waving a hand over her ear.

"Just treat it like you would regular stitches. It'll stop bacteria, so don't try to clean it. Just peel it out when you think it's healed." Petra shrugged, taking the resin back and handing her a tiny strip of gauze. "Stick this over it though so it doesn't ooze off, its not completely dry."

She accepted the gauze, feeling around her ear and gently pressing it over the sticky substance. She stopped, looking up, "Hey, those tiny jars—do you have one with resin in it? I can pay you, I've got emerald chips in my pack—_my pack!"_

She groaned, covering her face with her hands and leaning over her crossed legs, nearly hitting Petra in the nose.

"I knew I was forgetting something—stupid zombie! All our money was in that, Axel and Olivia are going to kill me!"

"Ah, sorry… about your pack. Would've picked it up if I'd seen it." Petra rubbed the back of her neck. "That might be on me, I rushed us out of there."

"No, it's not on you." Jesse said, voice muffled.

"You, uh… you wanted some resin?" She slid her hand into the first aid bag, rustling around and pulling out different jars before placing them back in with a clink in search of the right one.

"I totally had one of Olivia's favorite shirts in there."

"Here," Holding up a palm-sized jar of the dark sap, Petra unceremoniously placed it in front of Jesse, "Now quit moping, it's bumming me out. you can go out and look for it in the morning when you can actually see and monsters aren't taking shots at your life."

"Thanks, Petra. You're so nice." Jesse sniffed dramatically, idly touching around the piece of gauze over the tip of her ear and cringing at the pain.

"No, no. No saying that, you're not allowed to think I've going soft just because I did something a normal friend would do. Now get up, we need to go."

"Right, Reuben!"

"No. You know I have my own things going on too, right?" Petra held the metal door open for her. "Come on, I want to show you something really quick."

Jesse stood, placing the resin in her inventory and looking at her ruined shirt with scrutiny before folding it up and sending it into her inventory as well. She slipped her feet into her slightly damp boots, noticing the leather starting to dry in a hard, rippled texture and sighed. She had really liked these shoes. Clipping her overalls over her chest, she jogged up to Petra who was still holding the door for her, tapping her foot impatiently. Jesse passed Petra and left the bright room, grinning at her. The redhead just shut the door behind them, leading her into the tunnel.

Jesse finished combing out her hair with her fingers as they walked in silence, the only sound was their echoing footsteps and dripping water. The torches were becoming sparse and Jesse took the time to pull her hair back into a low french braid, smiling whenever Petra looked back to see she was still there. Jesse was turning her head at every noise, the occurrence outside still fresh on her mind, which made the braiding process a little difficult and the outcome a little crooked. She straightened it out as best she could, wishing she had a mirror as she furiously smoothed back fly-away hairs.

"You were pretty serious when you said you care about your hair."

Petra's voice had her looking up, seeing her glancing over her shoulder with a raised brow.

"Well I didn't say hair specifically, but it's usually the focus, yeah." She adjusted her clip where it now sat uselessly in her pulled back hair. She gave a one-shouldered shrug as Petra turned back around. "I like my hair. I like hair in general."

"To each her own." She said, jumping down a short ledge.

"Hey so, not that this isn't a really… cool, dimly lit tunnel." She slid down the ridge, catching up to Petra's side, who was looking straight ahead. "But, how far away is this thing you want to show me?"

"Careful, Jesse. You don't want to get a reputation as a wimp."

"This isn't my first time in a cave, Petra." She put a hand on her hip, watching Petra come to a stop at a chest Jesse would have otherwise missed. She pulled a thin key out of her bandana, pressing it into a small lock and clicking it open with a flick of her wrist, tucking the key back into her hair as she pushed open the chest and leaned into it. Jesse came up and curiously peaked around her, Petra shooting her a look. She quickly turned away and stuck her hands behind her back, pretending to admire the dark ceiling when as she heard the sound of the chest closing.

"So, not your first time in a cave, you said?" Petra repeated, holding something out of view behind her.

"Yeah?" Jesse turned back towards the taller girl.

"Well have you ever seen—" She took out a ghoulish, ashy-black skull, holding it carefully between both hands. "A Wither skull?"

"Woah!" Jesse exclaimed, taking a step forward in interest despite herself.

"Fresh from the Nether. You're the first person I've shown it to. So, you'd better appreciate this."

"You risked your life for that dusty old skull?" Jesse asked, looking at her in a disquieted manner.

"No." She said in an offended tone of voice, "I risked my life for the thing I'm going to _exchange_ for that dusty old skull."

"That's insane, Petra. You could've gotten yourself killed!"

She chuckled, moving the skull to one hand and holding it under an arm. "Don't worry so much. I can handle myself."

She drew it into her inventory, waving a hand at Jesse to follow as she trekked onward down the tunnel. "There's this guy I'm meeting up with at EnderCon—"

"Oho? A guy?" Jesse grinned, poking Petra in the ribs and getting her hand slapped away.

"_Not_ like that! He's at least sixty!"

"Oh." She frowned.

"He's going to trade me three diamonds for it. Being the resident go-getter pays off every once in a while."

"Is a Wither skull worth that much?"

She laughed a little, looking over, "Are you kidding?"

Jesse continued walking silently next to her, staring blankly. Petra sighed.

"Yes, it is. For all the trouble I had to go through to get it, I should be asking him for much more."

"Why doesn't he just go get the skull himself?"

"He's… not the kind of guy who has time to do something like that." Petra said, clearly thinking carefully about her words before speaking.

"What kinda guy is he, then?" Jesse asked slowly.

"The kind who understands the value of hard work."

"No, like, what's his deal?"

"He…" She trailed off, "He's kinda strange, I guess? But hey, everybody's got their thing." She shrugged.

"And you never thought to ask him, _hey there, what's with your whole… totally normal, not at all weird skull thing?_"

"Hey, as long as this guy is willing to pay, okay? I _earned_ those diamonds." She said earnestly, almost to herself.

They walked in comfortable silence, Jesse examining her fading green hands. It looked like the dye had not been as potent as they had thought. She had been expecting to have green hands for at least the next two weeks. It was still stained dark around her cuticles, and she found herself absently pushing them back with her thumb nail. As she messed with them, she looked to Petra with a hint of a smile.

"You know, it's pretty amazing." Jesse said, stopping.

Petra stopped as well, turning to look at the other girl behind her. "What is?"

"In one single day? You went to the Nether, you killed a Wither skeleton." She counted off the deeds on her fingers. "Saved me, cleaned and patched me up—and you're still not even done with your day yet. I mean, I did build a super cool statue, but still. It's pre-tty sweet being you, huh?"

Petra looked at her in thoughtful silence for a moment, before giving a tiny shrug. "You know, you could come with me."

Jesse stared at her as she walked away, stuck in her spot for a few moments, eyebrows raised in surprise before running to catch up despite Petra only being a few meters away.

"I mean, if you're too nervous, I totally get it." Petra hastily cut as she looked at Jesse, who still looked taken aback and slightly star struck, "Buuut I wouldn't mind a little back up."

"You want _me_, to come with _you?_" Jesse asked. She and Petra were friends in the sense that they waved or talked a bit whenever they saw the other. Not once had she ever been asked to hang out with anyone other than Axel and Olivia. No one wanted to hang out with the Order of the Losers' pig girl.

"Just consider it my umpteenth charitable act of the day. I don't know what's wrong with me tonight, really. Being so nice like this." She joked, smiling a little.

"I'll consider it whatever you want me to consider it, so long as I get to come." Jesse said, voice taking on a nervously laugh as she grinned wide, rubbing her arm.

The cave was like a great gray snake, curving under the hillside with sudden drops Petra had rope ladders nailed to leges and steep climbs where planks of wood were built together into simple stairs secured against the rock. Jesse was pushed along by an almost embarrassed looking Petra whenever she stopped to admire the handy work.

They came across a crafting table and chest pushed into a nook in the wall, the surface littered with flecks of wood and a single, broken stone ax blade.

"You just keep more than one crafting table down here?" She said, inspecting a small owl whittled into a stick on the chest.

"That's, uh, that's mine." Petra quickly said, taking the owl from her. "I whittle to keep my hands busy. Sort of a nervous habit. Hey! Um, since that wooden sword of yours got busted—"

"You're giving me a new one?"

Sliding the whittled stick down her pant's deep pockets, Petra crossed her arms. "Even better. You can make your own."

Jesse looked to the helper's grid on the wood, brushing away the debris and looking to Petra excitedly. "I've never had anything but that old wooden one."

"Well one stick plus two stones equals one sword. Just grab what you need from that chest." She smiled, resting a hand on her hip and leaning back against the rock wall.

"Oh. Okay, thanks!" She clicked open the chest, getting to her knees and kneeling over into its contents, moving shrunken sixty-four cobblestone blocks precariously bound together into single stacks. She popped two out of the unstable bind, half expecting the entire chest to burst apart with cobblestone and kill them both.

"Hey, is all this stuff yours?" She asked as she sorted through the sticks, feeling for the sturdiest one of the bunch.

"No, we're just stealing from whoever was dumb enough to leave this here—of course it's mine!" She hissed.

"Just... making sure." She sheepishly laughed.

Finding a stick that was flexible and sturdy, she took both ingredients and emerged from the chest, "Here we go! Jackpot!"

"It's only cobblestone and wood, Jesse." Petra said dully.

The shorter girl made her way to the table and set her items down in the correct squares of space. The ingredients shook before they were sucked in towards the center square, absorbing one another and ringing as the dense mass collapsed onto the crafting table as a sword. She picked it up by the still-warm handle, admiring the smooth, sharp blade created from stone, the dancing flames from the torches visible as blurry lights in the reflection of its dull but polished surface. It was beautiful.

"Don't cry." Petra said impassively.

"Okay." Jesse sniffed, biting her lower lip through a smile and giddily wiping back a tear.

"Isn't it better when you make it yourself? Here, you'll be needing this. Trust me when I say carrying a sword in your inventory isn't ideal."

Jesse found herself being strapped into a baldric, buckled over her chest diagonally and splitting off into two straps below her collarbone, reaching over her shoulder and around her side. The straps connected to a thin belt fastened around the middle of her waist.

"This is my own design. The ones at the store are overpriced and the crafting recipe just makes a weird fitting thing that chaffs you. This offers more support for weight than a sheath on your hip would and doesn't pinch or restrict your arm movement while still giving you easy access to whatever you're carrying." She was talking faster than Jesse had ever heard her talk as she adjusted the buckles to fit her snugly. She took the sword from Jesse's hand, sliding it down the scabbard as she prattled on about design schematic she was sure Axel would appreciate. She suddenly turned around, showing her back where her sheathed sword seemed to magically stick to her "And look, I've got one just like it under my chest piece, I even made holes in my vest for it, it's practically invisible."

Jesse looked down at the new ensemble, all courtesy of Petra. She would be lying if she said she didn't feel ridiculously cool and kind of attractive.

"Wow, um. Yeah. Sorry, that was probably a lot." Petra said, backing away brusquely and rubbing her neck, the tips of her ears pink. "Just sort of came out. That was… pretty embarrassing. I don't have many opportunities to share this stuff with people."

"I think it's totally cool, I had no idea you were such a nature survivalist craftsman wood whittler." Jesse got slapped over the back of her head for that one. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I wasn't making fun of you! I really do think it's cool."

"Whatever, just don't go blabbing. I've kind of got an image to uphold."

"I don't see how it would muddy your image any, if anything it just makes you look like a hardcore, self-sufficient, cool lumberjack or something." She said, running her hands over the smooth leather strapped across her.

"Lumberjack?

"Yeah, you know, with like... all the wood carving and leather work and stuff."

"That doesn't put me anywhere near being a lumberjack."

"Well, you're ripped too. Isn't that enough?" Jesse held her hands out, like she was explaining a math equation. "Look, buff person who whittles is lumberjack. Do not fight me on this, because I will win."

Petra smiled, a genuine laugh bubbling up her throat from a moment before it was gone. "I should keep you around more, Jesse."

"Same." She ginned, laughing when she got punched in the arm. They approached an opening in a cave leading to a long bridge over a cliff. Jesse balanced along the track rails, Petra joining her only at the other's insistence. They exited the cave, breathing in the brisk, Autumn night air.

"Check it out, EnderCon's all lit up." Petra pointed to Keystone hall's glass dome that towered above the trees, reflecting the blooms of bright colors bursting against the velvet dark backdrop of the night—Axel's fireworks.

"I can't believe it—we won!" She could see the tip of their build's green head just barely visible over the cusps of the trees, having been moved from the build site to EnderCon as all winning builds were. "Axel was right, everyone loves a Creeper."

"Good for you, Jesse." Petra smiled, patting the side of her arm. She didn't seem incredibly invested in EnderCon at all, but Jesse appreciated the thought and matched her smile with a grin, brushing her braid off her shoulder.

"It's about time we beat Lukas and his gang of jerks. I think everyone was getting tired of them winning every single year." She said, hardly noticing Petra's uncomfortable change in posture. "What kind of stupid name is the Ocelots, anyway?"

"You know… Lukas make be kind of arrogant, but he has come through for me in tricky situations." She said steadily, looking at her. "You might want to get to know him—Just in case."

Jesse was quite a moment, looking down to her feet then back up at the fireworks. Petra watched her shift through emotions, first annoyance, then guilt, then anger, then resting on a dubious expression.

"He's good at building, that's for sure. It's always useful to have a guy like that around… no matter what you might think of him personally." Petra added.

"Axel and Olivia won't like it, but… I don't know—you could be right." Jesse shifted in place, unsure as she kicked the heel of her shoe against the ground. "He's let his friends mess with us for years, though."

"I'm just saying, if you run into him at EnderCon—try talking to him."

"I don't need a lecture on the power of collaboration, Petra." She rolled her eyes.

"How 'bout a lecture on the power of my fists?" Her straight face made it difficult to discern if she was teasing or not, but the upwards twitch from her mouth gave her away. "It's short, but deadly."

"Like me." Jesse grinned.

"Only one of those things applies to you." She easily moved out of the way from a shove, snorting a little.

"C'mon, let's hurry, Axel and Olivia probably think I'm dead and I need to find Reuben—" She stopped at Petra's look. "And we need to go do that… that thing that you also need to do."

They walked across the tracks together, heading over the bridge as the sound of rushing water rose from below them. The layers of clay deposit visible on the upper sides of the canyon walls made eye-catching patterns across the steep ledges. The claps of the fireworks slowly stopped, leaving a long reverberation in their wake that bounced through the deep gorge below them, vibrating through their chests.

"Remember when EnderCon was like before it was cool?"

"Remember what we were like before _we_ were cool?"

"Some of us will never be cool." Petra looked at her blandly.

"Ha-ha." Jesse said monotonously, then stopped in her tracks. A triad of Creepers were marching down the other side of the bridge like they had important business to discuss with them. Jesse turned around, a group of zombies and two more Creepers had filed in from the natural path across the steep rock, blocking them in.

"This doesn't look good…" Petra looked between both sides of the bridge as she and Jesse instinctually pressed their backs against each other, swords clinking together. Jesse looked down at the water, which appeared much farther away than it had been just moments ago.

As if sensing Jesse's line of thought, Petra spoke, "Well, there's only one way off this bridge. Whatever we do, we do it together."

Jesse looked between the two sides closing in on them, momentarily thinking to the blade on her back, but fresh fear took hold of her chest once more and she locked up.

Petra grabbed Jesse's wrist, "Well?"

"I-I don't know, there's too many of them!"

"Then we jump!" Petra pulled on her wrist, running to the edge.

"Wait-wait-wait-wait—" She shrieked when she was yanked off the side of the bridge just as a Creeper blew its fuse behind them. Explosions rang through the air above her as they set one another off, sending the zombies flying back in bursts of smoke. Petra grabbed her shoulders, steadying her out and smiling at her. Jesse attempted to smile back but the other's face turned into a look of open-mouthed concern as she yelled something.

Jesse looked at her in confusion. _"WHAT?!"_

_"I SAID, CREEPER!"_ She shouted, grabbing her arm and spinning Jesse around. A Creeper was twisting through the air awkwardly behind her, middle bulging out and glowing as it prepared to blow. She wound back a leg and kicked it away, the force of her punt and the Creeper's explosion as it slammed hard against the canyon side pushing her into Petra. They shoved off each other just in time as the water approached the two girls fast. She landed spread eagle over the water, suspended over it for a moment before her body sunk under and she pushed her way to the surface, mildly alarmed at how shallow the water was.

"Burns! It burns!" She cried out, slapping at the water in pain.

"Don't you know, you dive into the water. You don't land on top of it." Petra said, swimming over to Jesse to mournfully look over her leather work strapped over the girl's body, undamaged but covered in water. She muttered something about waterproofing with pine resin as she turned, pushing red hair out of her face and swimming towards the shore. "Pull yourself together and follow me."

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reviews are super appreciated, love hearing back from you guys. lmk if you think the beginning's pacing can be improved at all


	5. Chapter 5

I know the chicken machine jesse breaks is actually probably not a feather catcher, what with that not even being a real thing in minecraft and also there was lava in the machine for some reason, but i had no idea what else it could be other than a very poorly made chicken cooker that just chucks them into lava. Anywand this story isnt ***TECHNICALLY*** following minecraft logic to a T so i guess it doesnt really matter

ok i had a lot of trouble editing the second half of this to make it sound cohesive. Everytime the game does a 'walk around and talk to people/interact with stuff' sort of thing all i do is suffer lol. Like everyone moment of it in ch 6 is kicking my entire ass for this exact reason. Its difficult too when theres like 6 characters in one room and i have to move them around and make them talk and not repeat words etc.

also anytime petra like ''''hurts'''' jesse, keep in mine its not serious at all. Its just for comedic effect. Also jesse's just kinda overdramatic.

I know this chapter is really really weak, i had so much trouble writing and edited the endercon scenes. so sorry in advance if the pacing just shortens dramatically at random intervals. i tried by best lol

* * *

Petra and Jesse walked in silence through the town's high street. They passed the closed doors of the grocer with his window full of apples and oranges, and the library with its sea green bound books displayed with signs pressed against the glass advertising enchanting, the small bank covered in vines, and the open market with the blacksmith's—all dark.

Past the glowstone streetlamps and the tall stone buildings, the smell of scorched pumpkin drifted down the wide road, jack-o'-lanterns lining the street corners. Some had E.C. carved into them, others gaped widely with the faces of creepers, some were carved like cats or rabbits. They glowed in the night as greetings to the con-goers heading in early, walking back home with skeleton masks, Creeper heads, replicas of Gabriel's helmet, even hats with yarn stitched into them to mimic Ellegaard's signature curled hair and goggles.

Jesse was drying off the leather of her new baldric with her old shirt, adjusting her damp braid. Petra was squeezing out her cloth based armor pads, equally damp hair pulled back by her wet bandana and a hair tie from Jesse. They huddled close against the chilled air nipping at their dampened clothes.

"Let me know if you see Reuben anywhere." Jesse said, folding the yellow shirt up and sucking it back into her inventory with a pop.

"He's got to be here somewhere, Jesse."

"I hope you're right." She said, looking ahead of them at the EnderCon banner strung up over the end of the street.

"So, when we're making the deal, I need you to let me do the talking, okay?" Petra said, playfully snapping the leather strap around Jesse's waist for her attention. "I just don't want anything to screw this up. Or anyone."

"But talkings what I do best." She pressed a hand over her hip, tossing her braided hair over her shoulder. Petra didn't seem to catch the joke.

"Just, do me a favor and suppress your inner talent, okay?" She said earnestly.

"Petra, I'm only kidding." She bumped their shoulders with a smile.

"Oh, right yeah. No, of course." Petra said. She hesitated and bumped her back with a small upturn of her lips. "Sorry, not used to extended company."

"It's fine, I'm probably too used to being around Axel and Olivia. Our humor just hasn't totally adjusted to the other's yet." She said, idly tapping her nails against the small jar of resin in her pocket. She had taken it out of her inventory earlier, spending the journey to Beacontown turning it over in her hand and watching the sap loll about, "And since we're both being open here, should I be nervous about this?"

"Given your personality, your life experience, and everything else you've done to make it to this moment? Yes."

"Oh."

Petra nudged her with an elbow, smiling, "I'm also joking."

"Oh! No, right!" She laughed a little, moving the squat jar into her inventory next to the rolled-up shirt, lacing her hands together in front of her, "Right."

"Jeez, you were right. This really isn't a strong suit between us," Petra said, pushing back a damp clump of hair. "All joking aside though, can I trust you to work with me on this—with the deal?

"Of course. I'll let you handle all the talking and my mouth will remain shut." She said, holding her hand up in a scout's promise.

"If you really want to be useful, try to look intimidating."

"Oh, okay! Like this?" Jesse spread her feet apart and raised her shoulders, hands unfurled as she tried to growl. She looked like she was trying to mimic a feral cowboy more than anything.

"...I'm less scared of you than scared for you." Petra said, concealing a mirthful smile behind her hand.

Jesse dropped her stance and punched Petra's shoulder, the two laughing and approaching the tall black and magenta banner. "ENDERCON" was printed across in bright purple; Jesse's woolen Creeper design towered over the entrance.

As they passed under the long stretch of fabric, Axel and Olivia turned the corner of the Creeper, whispering loudly to each other with wild hand gestures. Jesse noted their hands were as stain free as hers, exempting Olivia's deep green cuticles.

"Guys!" She called out, running to them.

"Jesse!" They called out, meeting her halfway as Axel grabbing her into a hug. He quickly let go with an _"__Egh!" _at the wet state of her clothes, almost dropping her to the ground.

"And… Petra?" Olivia looked the two damp girls over.

"Hey, you all know Petra. My new super-close friend." Jesse said unconvincingly, grinning proudly nonetheless. "We're super-close now."

The two looked at her, unimpressed, and Petra placed a hand over her face.

"We… ran into each other while I was looking for Reuben." Jesse admitted lamely.

"Couldn't find him, huh?" Axel said, brows pulling together.

"He'll turn up sooner or later—I just know it." Olivia stepped forward, grabbing Jesse's shoulders and giving them a squeeze, looking over the leather straps covering her chest with curiosity as she released her.

"It's—Petra gave this to me—but Reuben, I found him, and then before I knew what was happening, we were under attack by this monster hoard. I told him to run—it was for his own good, I could barely protect myself." She looked to the redhead, "Thankfully Petra was there."

"What were you doin' in the woods, Petra?" Axel asked, tilting his head in question.

"Nothing. Just… drawn by the sound of Jesse's high-pitched screams." She shrugged.

"I would've been spider-bait if she hadn't've found me." Jesse said, looking to Petra appreciatively. The other girl looked away—crossing her arms, ears turning pink in embarrassment as she gave the ground a tenuous look.

Axel's large hand gave Jesse a sound pat on the back, "Sorry we didn't come with you, Jesse."

"But hey, we won!" Olivia cut in cheerfully, turning to face their firework dispensing Creeper.

Petra turned as well, eyebrows raising a hair. "Huh, you weren't kidding when you said you made a super cool statue. Didn't even realize this thing was yours"

"Right? It turned out so great!" Jesse had her fists balled up in front of her in excitement.

"Looks like abandoning friends in their time of need paid off yet again." Axel said, laughing when Olivia hit his arm.

The dense redstone blocks pressed behind the towering creature lit up the varied green wool, faintly illuminating its middle and sending red sparks off it that glowed in the night compared to the daytime.

Jesse surveyed the tall structure, eyes raking over green wool sparking with redstone.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Creeper was really gonna explode." Jesse said, looking to Olivia. "That redstone was the perfect touch."

"We did okay, didn't we?" Axel looked to Olivia as well.

"I mean, we won… but I still wish I'd gotten that part in the back to look better."

"Yeah… there _could've_ been more fireworks in there… somewhere…"

"Are you two being serious? It's amazing! You guys did incredible." She insisted, tugging them in by their arms as she smiled widely. "I'm so proud of you guys."

"Aw, shucks, Jess." Axel pressed a hand to his cheek bashfully.

"Yeah, don't make me blush." Olivia smiled at her, shoving her arm and receiving a shove back from Jesse, also smiling.

Axel quickly stepped between the two girls when Olivia tried to shove her again and Jesse was winding back for a second shove, preventing another devastating shove war.

"Hey, Jesse, it's time to go see about that thing." Petra spoke up casually, giving her a pointed look.

"Oh! Right! The… _thing."_

"Subtle." Olivia commented.

"Yeah?" Jesse asked, looking to her with a bright smile.

"As a punch to the face." She shook her head at her but grinned. She pointed to Axel with a thumb, "Axel and I were gonna head into EnderCon, anyway. See you in there?"

"Heard somebody saying there was free pie by the map booth." Axel said in a sing-song voice, trying to tempt her to join. Jesse gave him an apologetic smile, silently motioning to Petra.

"I already promised Petra I'd help her with something. I'll see you guys in there soon. Keep Olivia away from the squid vendor for me until then, Axel."

"Roger that."

"Hey!"

Axel waved to Jesse and she waved back, watching Olivia take off as Axel barge after her.

Petra tapped her arm, "Let's get moving, we're supposed to meet in the alley over there."

She pointed over Jesse's shoulder, and the short girl looked behind her to see an old alley wedged between two rose colored brick buildings with cobblestone foundations, a few windows lit up by flickering oil lamps.

"Oh, okay. Convenient, I guess." Jesse said lightly, following Petra.

They stepped over the threshold of light and dark, leaving the lit street behind. Jesse dragged her hand against the brittle ivy covering the sides of the sparse walls, crawling across the brick like veins as she peered into pitch black windows.

"Dark. Dark. Veeery dark in here." She whispered to herself, looking down a second passageway that led along the other side of the building and back to the street. Iron bars sectioned it off from the alleyway on the street adjacent to them. A rickety plywood chest was shoved into a corner, a compost bin by the smell of it, and sat among several dark wooden crates of differing sizes.

"That's weird—he said the dark, creepy alley close to the gates, but he's not here…" Petra brought her hand to her chin, looking around thoughtfully, "Maybe he's late."

"Are you sure this is the specific dark, creepy alley he meant?" Jesse asked, stark undertones of sass in her voice.

"Huh. I _was_." Petra said, either not catching the sarcasm or ignoring it. "Okay, new plan. You stay here, just in case this is the spot he meant, and I'll look around. I guess I could have heard him wrong. Then again, I've never gotten a meet-up spot wrong before… but then why would he be late…?"

"Something about this feels off to me." Jesse said, interrupted the other's mumbling with a touch to the arm.

"All of my secret deals feel off. That's why I usually keep them a secret." She said, leveling Jesse with a _duh_ look.

She sighed after a moment's pause. "Okay, I'll hold down the fort."

"Thanks Jesse, I'll be back before you know it."

"Wait, what do I do if—"

"If he shows up while I'm gone, just stall for me." Petra said, turning back down the alley and disappearing as she rounded the corner.

Jesse stood there for a moment, rubbing her hands over her arms with a shudder. Her clothes were no longer sopping wet, but were in a state of damp that drew the cold into her skin. She kicked at a piece of gravel, sliding her hands deep in her pockets and stepping further into the alley. Looking around, her eyes landed on the crates, noticing all but one were locked. She stepped towards it, looking the box over. It was the smallest of all of them, resting atop a larger one that reached up to her waist.

"A_hem!"_

She yelled in surprise, turning and nearly falling back against the wood.

"And just _who_ are you?"

A man with long, slick, black hair and an uneven beard that reached past his neck was looking at her, arms crossed. Long, olive green robes with gold clasps down the side hung over his thin frame, dark green pants skimming past his ankles. A polished leather belt was buckled firmly around his middle with what looked like a square cut of lapis lazuli centered in a bronze belt buckle. He had deep eye bags, their intensity only heightened by his large eyebrows that cast a shadow over his face in the warm light from an open window above them.

"I'm waiting! Answer me." He demanded, "I asked, who are you?"

"No, who are _you?__"_ She shot back, squinting her eyes at him.

"If you belonged here, you would know!"

"You know, you really shouldn't creep up on people like that. It's… creepy."

"Don't test me, _girl__."_ He lowered his voice, pointing a finger right back at her and narrowing his eyes. Jesse made a noise of affrontement.

"I'm supposed to meet with Petra, not… whatever you're supposed to be!" He said, waving his hands over her. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't walk out of here right now."

She looked up at him, running through excuses in her head and feeling very much put on the spot.

"Well? I'm a very busy man."

"I'm with Petra—I'm her… partner." She said, standing straighter.

"My deal was with her, not her partner."

"She'll be here, but... we can—we can get started without her."

"You have the skull?"

"Uh… well, define _'have' _and _'__skull.'"_

"You do or you don't." He said gruffly, "You'd better not be toying with me."

"Take a breath, would you! I'll show you the skull when I'm good and ready!"

"This is unacceptable, I'm not wasting anymore time with you. Out of my way!" He went to push past her when Jesse held her hands out, stopping him.

"Wait, wait! Petra has it—and she'll be back any minute now!"

He sighed, lowering his long arms at his sides. "Well, so long as she's bringing it… I supposed it wouldn't kill me to wait a minute longer. You're lucky I'm not letting this sour the whole deal."

"Sorry, I got—I got carried away."

"All is well. Now stop it, there will be no groveling."

"Right."

They stood in silence. Jesse rubbed the back of her neck, looking around. "Uh… well…"

He looked down at her expectantly.

"So, Hi. Hello. I'm—um, Jesse?" She raised a hand for him to shake. He merely stroked his beard and looked at her offered hand.

"Hello, Um-Jesse."

"What—"

"Ivor!" Petra called, making the two of them turn. She ran to them from behind the iron bars, easily climbing them and landing deftly on the other side.

"Ah, see? There she is." He said, looking to Jesse like it had been her who was waiting for Petra and not the other way around.

"Sorry I'm late, but good things are worth waiting for. I've got what you asked for—"

"—_If__,_" Jesse interrupted, "You have what you promised us."

Petra quickly stomped on her foot. Smiling pleasantly at Ivor as Jesse bent over it in pain.

"Sorry." Jesse wheezed quietly, looking up. "You know, you've got a boney foot."

Ivor observed the two with a bored expression, eyebrow quirked. "You didn't say anything about an 'us' when we first met. And I don't like surprises. If these are the sorts of people you associate with, perhaps we should call the whole thing off."

"My friend is fine, right Jesse?" Petra smiled tightly, lightly pushing her hand against the small of Jesse's back to get her to stand up straight. She grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her up into a side hug. "There's no problem here, Let's not be too hasty, okay? This is just a, uh little misunderstanding. _Right__,_ Jesse?"

Petra looked to her, nudging their connected shoulders for her to say something.

Jesse instead tugged Petra in close, whispering, "Maybe we should rethink this whole thing. This guy gives me a bad feeling."

"I'll give you a bad feeling if you ruin this for me, now answer!" The redhead hissed, pulling away.

She gave Petra a look, crossing her arms with a reluctant sigh. "I'm cool if he's cool."

"It's settled then, you're both cool." Petra released her, holding her hands out amicably and bringing them together.

"Proceed, then." Ivor said slowly, stepping forward.

Never once taking her eyes off him, Petra reached into her inventory and carefully took out the Wither skull, holding it out to him. His long fingers closed over the head, pale skin contrasting horribly against its dark pallor as he looked it over, seemingly pleased with it if his smile was anything to go by.

"I'll take those diamonds now."

He motioned his head at the small, dark crate behind them. "Take them, you've earned it."

Jesse watched over Petra's shoulder as she knocked the open lock off the crate, opening the latch.

"Uh, these aren't diamonds…" Jesse said astutely, peering into the box.

"No, it's lapis!" Petra growled, holding out chunks of the deep blue and looking behind them where Ivor had vanished.

"Of all the dirty, underhanded tricks to pull!" She loudly threw the rocks back into the crate. "I can't believe that guy got one over on me!"

"Well then let's go after him," Jesse urged, waving wildly towards the end of the alley. "He's getting away as we speak!"

The red head slammed the box shut, giving her a nod. "Let's hurry then!"

She took off, Jesse right behind her. Petra looked to her as the shorter caught up to her side, "I'm either getting those diamonds, or I'm getting my skull back—"

"Or you'll make him pay, right? Right?" She asked excitedly.

"Just come on!" Petra grabbed her hand and led her through another alley, this one much longer than the last. They took twists and turns, zigzagging through areas Jesse hadn't even known existed before skidding to a stop at an exit right on the brink of EnderCon. The streets were abuzz with crowds of people, some skittering between game booths and other hovering around food vendors.

"We lost him!" Jesse groaned, looking through the crowd before them.

"Then we'll just have to find him again!" Petra turned to Jesse, pushing red hair from her face, "Go!"

Jesse nodded, and they split into opposite directions.

The whole private life of the street was threaded in glowstone lanterns hanging from crisscrossed rope, decorated with streamers of black and purple. Keystone hall was lit up, the dome shining softly under the pinprick stars. Tarps of booths and stalls alike were decorated with so many flyers and banners, Jesse could scarcely tell what the original color underneath it all was. The sweeter than sweet smell of cotton candy and fried dough overpowered her nose, intermixing with the sharp smell of burning jack-o'-lanterns and the chilled night air. There were two mounted posters of Gabriel next to the blue and yellow information desk, framing a sign painted, _'__Keystone—SOLD OUT.'_

Passing the mask booth that had become a staple of the Con, she excused herself through the long line of people fencing her out from her path. The counter displayed thin painted masks from cows to ghasts. They were popular enough that they could cut her, Axel's, and Olivia's admittedly meager EnderCon spending money in half with a single purchase.

Jesse barely passed a heavily decorated potions booth before she was shoved out of the way, nearly slamming into a small hutch advertising warm beverages.

"There he is! Gabriel! Gabriel!"

"Step aside please—" She caught a flash of a large usher wearing a light blue EnderCon staff shirt with a lanyard around his neck, holding his tree trunk arms out. Her vision was cut off as someone shoved in front of her, nearly knocking her over

"I have just one question!"

"I love you, Gabriel!"

Curious, Jesse tried to push her way through the tightly packed bodies, only to be thrown back onto her butt. Getting to her feet with a huff, she started jumping, peeking over the shoulders of the gathered mass and catching a glimpse of a man wearing dark armor with teal accents reflecting the lanterns above him.

"Hold all your questions until after the keynote!"

"But the keynote's sold out!"

"Hold all your questions anyway." The usher moved Gabriel along as he cut him through two vacant booths, the crowd attempting to follow. The large man blocked the way with his body, looking down over everyone.

The crowd having moved, Jesse carried onward, picking her way through the scattering people around the throng who had come to investigate the commotion. Passing the DJ, she spotted Lukas leaning against a counter selling raw clay by the pound, stacked behind him in wet canvas bags. The stall owner was busy lugging in heavy sacks from a wheelbarrow parked behind the furthermost support beams of the blue tented booth, paying no mind to the lounging blond.

Noticing her approach, Lukas pushed off the surface with a tiny smile.

"'Sup." Jesse greeted, hand on hip.

"'Sup." He greeted back.

"Nothing, 'sup with you?"

"Nothing, 'sup with _you?"_

"...I just said. Nothing."

"Oh, right—Yeah." Lukas rubbed his shoulder, looking down and back up. "Hey, uh... congrats on the win. I mean, I still think our beacon was amazing, but you guys did a pretty good job too. I thought the whole monster theme was pretty cool, but fireworks too?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, smiling. "Well, it _was_ a firework dispenser."

"No, I know. I'm just saying... it was pretty cool." He shrugged, hands in his pockets. "I think Aiden even kind of like it."

"…You know, that stunt he pulled really hurt my pig."

"Oh… okay, maybe—But I had nothing to do with that."

"Yeah, all right, no." Jesse began, tucking a stray hair behind her ear and leaning a hand against the booth's counter, leveling Lukas with a hard stare. "You're the leader, right? Of The Ocelots?

"Yeah, I don't see how—"

"Then you either need to own up for your friends' dumb actions or make them own up for it themselves." She punctuated her next words with two pokes to his chest, "_You're_ the leader. They listen to _you__,_ not the other way around."

Lukas had backed up with each poke, his long legs bumping against an empty stall behind him. "I'm not a leader in the sense that I'm in charge of them, I'm just the best builder."

Jesse opened her mouth to retort, but Lukas beat her to it.

"Listen, it's not like your wrong. I know I can be a doormat. We might have gotten runner-up if we weren't the ones responsible for—you know—almost burning down several builds or whatever. And for what it's worth, I _am _sorry, it's not fair you had to deal with Aiden being an idiot."

Jesse heaved a sigh, looking at an abashed Lukas. Petra was right. Lukas _was_ arrogant, but his heart was in the right place. Even if he was a little dumb sometimes.

"You know," She said slowly, "Your beacon wasn't too shabby. You guys would've earned that runner-up if you'd gotten it."

Lukas held up a hand for her to stop, "You don't have to do that, okay? You guys won, fair and square."

She smiled a bit at him, and he smiled back hesitantly, looking down at her.

"Hey, you didn't happen to see a creepy guy with long hair and a beard roaming around, did you? Wearing green ugly robes that probably have a million pockets inside?" She asked.

Lukas looked thrown for a loop, face scrunching up in mild confusion. "Uh… I don't think so. Why?"

"He kinda scammed Petra out of a bunch of diamonds earlier." She explained, resting her hip against the booth next to her.

"Oh-ho, everyone knows you don't mess with Petra." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "At least, not if you know what's good for you."

Jesse blinked. "Why'd you say that all ominous."

"Petra's ominous." He stated. "I'll keep an eye out, okay?"

"Thanks, I appreciate it." She let a grin slide across her face. It fell when the taller of the two looked away nervously, smoothing back his hair.

"So, uh… we're cool?" He finally said after ten seconds of incredibly uncomfortable silence; at least on Jesse's end.

"Yeah, we're cool."

"Cool, cool."

"Cool beans."

"Cool-o-rama."

She laughed, waving behind her as she turned to continue her search. "See you later, Lukas."

"Yeah! See you!" He called after her, craning his head over the crowd as she disappeared, waving back despite the other being gone.

Jesse bypassed a little hut with two banners of shortbread cookies painted down the cloth. She stopped several paces away from what appeared to be some kind of chicken machine, and stared at it for a good minute with squinted eyes. She could not for the life of her discern the purpose of it.

Looking down the side, she quickly took note of Axel who was practically pressed up against the machine's fence.

She saddled up next to him, following his gaze up to a glass box of panicked chickens running in circles. One of them stepped on a pressure plate and the block below it whisked out from underneath its feet, dropping it into a pen below.

"Thought you could wiggle out of that trap, didn't you? Well, wiggle as much as you want! you're not going anywhere!" He laughed, slapping the fence in his mirth.

She rolled her eyes, grabbing his thick arm to make him look at her, "Axel, listen up. Any chance you've seen a creepy looking beard-y guy anywhere?"

"No, but Petra told me what happened—I'm keeping an eye out for him."

Jesse could only look at him, setting her hands on her hips and looking between Axel and the chicken-dropper with a narrowed gaze.

"Okay! So I got a little distracted." He said. "It's just—this machine presses all my buttons! Unnecessarily complicated, mean to birds for no reason… and I mean, when something like this calls out for you, you gotta answer!"

Jesse remained silent, and he was shrinking under her stare as much as a '6"5, burly guy could; which was surprisingly a lot.

"I swear though, as soon as the demonstration is over, um—I mean, Petra _did_ make it sound kinda serious…"

Jesse shifted her weight to one leg as she sent him a mild glare. He sighed.

"The ol' silent treatment and stink eye, huh? All right, all right, I'll look." He said. "...After I watch _one_ more chicken get totally wrecked.

She let out a gust of air and rested her arms at her sides, looking around absently before a thought shot through her head like an arrow as a second chicken fell.

"Hey! Have you seen Reuben anywhere? I was hoping that he'd made it to the Con by himself."

"Haven't seen hide nor hair." Axel said, eyes glued to the contraption in front of him. "But I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough little ham. Now just... one more… that last one wasn't any good..."

"_Axel! _This is serious!" She slapped his arm with both her hands, physically shoving him away from the machine. "Get away from this thing, we have more important things at hand!"

His arms were immediately up in defense and he was turning from the chicken-dropper, walking off. "_Going!_ I am _going!"_

Jesse shook her head at him, facing the crowd once more. She quickly glared at Lukas who had been watching the exchange from the clay stall. He looked away, messing with a strand of hair and pretending there was suddenly something very interesting in front of him. Blowing a piece of hair from her face and turning away, she cut through the street—catching sight of a dull, green-ish robe and long, dark hair.

"Hah!" Her eyes narrowed victoriously, "I see you now, weirdo."

Jesse took off after the figure, dodging and ducking under both people and empty booths. The green cloak was almost at arm's reach when she nearly ran headlong into Aiden, who had quickly stepped out in front of Jesse at the sight of her.

"Well, if it isn't team trash bag!"

"How is it a team if I'm the only one here." She said, not really paying attention as she attempted to lean around him to keep her eyes on her target, but Aiden just shifted every time she moved so he blocked her gaze with his face.

"How's your stupid pig? I hear intense heat causes brain damage." He pretended to look up in thought. "It does boost the flavor something crazy, though."

She took the opportunity to look behind him, scanning the crown for Ivor. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Ugh! Aiden, you _Idiot!"_ She pushed his chest roughly.

"Hey! Who you calling an idiot?"

"_You!_ Now move!" She pushed him again, this time forcing him to veer him off to the side so she could walk past.

"Hey!" He grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.

"_Kinda _busy right now, man." She growled.

"What, busy trying to get a life? Busy trying to find some friends?"

She looked at him dully, glancing down at her wrist. She really didn't feel like breaking Aiden's entire arm—not today, at least.

"...Nice comeback, jerkwad." Aiden said at her extended silence.

"What's that!" She suddenly cried, pointing in a random direction and feeling incredibly dumb resorting to such a tactic. Even worse, Aiden actually looked. Jesse grabbed his hand and physically pried it off of her, Aiden yelping and pulling away when she accidentally cracked one of his knuckles.

"Are you twelve?!" He nearly shrieked at her, holding his hand like she's snapped the entire appendage in half.

She shoved past him, rolling her eyes at the heated glare she could feel on her back. What a baby.

The short girl squeezed through the crowd, eyes alighting with determination as she spotted Ivor, the muted earth tones of his clothes sticking out against a red-topped merchant's tent that was showing off different designs of iron chest plates. She power-walked madly towards him, cutting through the line of people and ignoring their indignant noises of protest.

Jesse grabbed his shoulder, less boney than she had expected, and turned him around. "Hey! Where do you think you're—"

"What do you think you think you're doing?!" A woman yanked away from her.

Jesse backed up. "Oh! I'm sorry—"

"Get away from me!" She exclaimed with the sort of ire someone would use on a pickpocket caught in the act.

"I said I was sorry."

The dark haired woman glowered at her, two men coming up behind her and crossing their arms at Jesse.

"All right, jeez—"

Shrill squeals sounded faintly across the Con, and Jesse was whipping around, forgetting entirely about the three in front of her as she shifted to high alert.

"Reuben?" She took a few steps forward. "Reuben?!"

She rushed from the merchant's tent, ignoring the yelling from one of the men, dodging carts and people as she frantically looked around her. She nearly ran into a woman at the sight of large rendition of a pig's head looking down over a stall, knocking a candied apple from her hand.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Jesse apologized profusely, searching a hand through her inventory and emerging victorious with a single emerald coin. She pressed it into the frazzled con-goers hand, dashing past her with a, _"__Please-enjoy-your-night-bye!"_

She came to a halt within running distance of the booth, breathing heavily as her eyes darted around before landing on a dark haired man.

"Getcha pork chops here! Fresh off the bone!" He bellowed, wrangling down a medium-sized pig in his arms that was shrieking frantically. Jesse's eye's zeroed in on the dark birthmark over its back. "Nothin' sticks to your ribs quite like a juicy pork chop!"

_"REUBEN!" _Jesse shouted, across the street before she even knew it, seizing the butcher's raised hand that was clutching an ax before he could bring it down over the struggling pig.

"Hey!" He jerked away from her, grabbing Reuben with a hairy arm as the pig attempted to scramble over the counter towards Jesse, "You got a problem? I'm trying to run a business here."

"That's my pig!"

"Oh really? Well I found him out in the woods, so I think that makes him my pig." He said, waving the ax around as he spoke, making her take a step back. "Not the fattest pig I've ever seen, but he could cook up real nice."

"Please, he's my friend." She pleaded.

"To me, he's inventory." He shrugged, chuckling as he grabbed Reuben under an arm like a sack of potatoes when the pig attempted another mad dash towards her, "I might be amenable to some kind of trade. Not that you look like you got much of value."

He itched behind his ear with the blunt backside of the ax blade. "I gotta get some kind of return on my investment. Otherwise, it's straight to the grill for this one."

She clenched her fists, glaring at the butcher as her face began to feel hot. With nary a thought running through her head, she slid her sword from her back, leveling the tip to the butcher in a swinging arch. His face dropped its color and fell into an ashy white.

_"Give—me—back—my—pig."_ She ground out, holding back the tremors that wanted to let loose over her arm, unused to the solid weight of a stone blade.

"All right you little maniac, fine. Take him!" He dropped Reuben on the counter, shoving him off. "He's all yours."

After a few tries she managed to re-sheath her sword, crouching down to take Reuben in her arms and marching off, hugging him close to her. Her face had cooled and felt chilled against the biting air. Reuben was sniffing curiously at her shirt, then at the baldric strapped to her, and finally oinked against her cheek for her attention. When Jesse looked down, he was glaring.

"I know—I'm sorry, Reuben. I never should have let you run off in the woods." He huffed before leaning up and touching his snout to her ear, licking once then looking back at her questioningly.

"It's fine, bud. Petra got me all patched up, it wasn't anything too bad." She touched the small square of gauze over the shell of her ear, wincing a little. "Hurts like a blaze rod, though."

Jesse smiled when Reuben chuffed against her neck, holding him close and burying her face into him before letting go and setting him down, taking a knee in front of him.

"All right, so let me catch you up to speed. First of all, I'm glad you're safe and I love you very much." she said, pressing her hands over his cheeks and bringing his head in for a kiss, Reuben squeaking happily. "Second, I helped Petra out with a deal but we got scammed, and now we're all looking for the guy. He's gross and has a beard. Think you can look out for someone like that?"

Reuben gave an affirmative grunt, clicking his hooves against the stone beneath them.

"Cool-o-rama. Let's head out."

Circling the Con, they passed by Axel once, stopping for him to hug it out with Reuben, happy to see him safe. They saw Lukas, who waved to Jesse and blanched at the sight of the pig at her side. They ducked behind a glowstone booth when Aiden's came around, looking for something or someone. They stopped at Petra who gave a pet to Reuben, and received a face-full of licks in return. They got called a gremlin when they passed by the butcher, who had chucked a handful of pork rinds at them.

It was a long thirty minutes.

Stopping at the chicken-dropper, Jesse rested her aching feet as she leaned against the fence, body drooping. Reuben laid next to her and yawned. She absently watched people pass her, wanting to close her eyes and sleep right there against the weird poultry device.

She managed to pick herself up, dragging a whining Reuben behind her for round one of _see if we can circle the Con a second time without passing out_ when she saw Olivia not far away, scrutinizing a width-y machine. A large chicken head was anchored to the top, fashioned out of wool.

"What is it with chickens?" Jesse muttered as she walked towards her friend, Reuben slow on her heels. She tapped Olivia's shoulder and she turned around.

"Wow, you look awful."

"Thanks. Remember that thing I had to go do with Petra?" Olivia nodded once. "Long story short, we met up with this guy, he cheated me and Petra on a deal—well, cheated her more than me, really—and now we're trying to track him down. You in?"

"Oh, I'm in all right." She said, then broke into a wide smile the pig behind her. "Reuben! You found him!"

"Ye-ah…" Jesse toyed with her braid, "Technically the butcher found him and then I threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't give Reuben back. Today hasn't been a great me-day."

"Speak for yourself, I would've done the same and more," Olivia said, leaning down to rub to a gleeful Reuben's ears. Standing, Olivia's eyes locked onto something over her shoulder, and touched the side of Jesse's arm, motioning her to turn around. Jesse looked behind her, Petra and Axel coming to a stop in front of them.

"Any sign of him?" Petra asked.

"I thought I saw him earlier, but, uh... it was just a false alarm." She said, thinking back to the furious woman. "Basically, thi—wait! Wait _there he is!"_

Jesse pointed towards Keynote hall, where Ivor was running up the wide steps, checking over his shoulder. He was barely illuminated by the glowstone lamps above him casting eerie shadows over his face.

"Looks like he's heading towards the Hall." Olivia said.

The building was surrounded by a delicate, oxidized copper fence, the main gate blocked by the wide frame of the blond usher Jesse had seen earlier. Petra eyed him.

"We're going to have to get past that usher to follow him." Her voice was hushed.

"Then let's go. A direct approach could be best here." Jesse beckoned them, already walking towards the gate.

They climbed the small flight of stairs to the outer entrance, stopping before the tall man who could give Axel a run for his money. Petra pushed Jesse forward when she didn't speak right away.

"So, yeah. Hey." Jesse said casually. The blond only looked at her with lowered brows, looking more awkward by the second as Jesse stood there silently.

With a roll of her eyes, Petra moved past her. "What would it take to get us inside tonight?"

There was a pause as he stared at them blankly, then laughed, "Uh, tickets."

He looked between all of them, eyebrows furrowing. "That was a good one, you should laugh."

"Here's the thing," Jesse started, moving in front of Petra and pulling her best embarrassed look, messing with her hair sheepishly, "We had tickets, but we… lost them."

"Ah, man, I hate when stuff like that happens." He said, looking down at them. "It's like, the worst. Just forgetting everything all the time."

"Same! I feel like _such_ an idiot sometimes."

"I'm sorry about your tickets and all, but no tickets, no show."

She sighed, getting ready to lay on the charm when a chicken jumped by them, squawking. The usher scrambled out of the way with a cry, practically cowering.

"Chicken! Chicken! _Chicken!"_

They watched in silence as he eventually got to his feet, breathing heavily and dusting off his shorts, talking to himself as he did so, "It's gone—you're totally fine, you're a totally cool dude."

Petra gave him an odd look before motioning at all six of them to follow her. They headed back down the steps as the usher continued to talk himself down from his abrupt panic.

The redhead gathered them in a circle, bringing both her hands down in a chopping motion as she spoke, "We _have_ to do something."

"Like what? This show has been sold out for ages." Olivia said.

"I _could_ bust right through, I just need a little bit of wind up room."

"No, Axel." Olivia pushed his flexing arms back down.

"Any other bright Ideas?" Petra looked around at them.

Jesse glanced up, staring up at the chicken machine Olivia had been looking over earlier as a thought formulated in her head. A flurry of chickens were visible through a glass plane, the machine collecting plumage down a wired over, chamber big enough for the feathers but too small for the chickens.

"What we need," A slow grin crossed over her face, "Is a _distraction__._"

Petra followed Jesse's line of sight, a sly smile spreading her pale features. "A bunch of _chickens_ running around might be a distraction."

The others turned to see what they were looking at.

Axel glanced back between the two girls, "Could someone please tell me why we're smiling at the feather machine."

Jesse took his arm, discreetly pointing to the usher who was shooing away the same chicken, curling back from the bird like it was going to bite him if he got too close.

"The usher is afraid of chickens," She said quietly, looking back to the group, "What would you say if I told you I wanna break this guy's machine to create the mother of all distractions?"

"But you have to break that pane of glass." Olivia said, motioning to the top of the large device where the machine seemed to reach the apex of its chicken speed, eyes narrowed as her brows furrowed. "How're you going to reach it?"

"Let's look around." Petra glanced around, "There has to be something we can do."

Axel and Olivia stayed by the machine, checking it over for possible kinks and exploitable weaknesses. At least, Olivia was; Axel only seemed interested in the vortex of chickens above.

"Axel, any ideas?" Jesse tapped her fingers in his shoulder.

"Yes." He smiled.

"...That pertains to our current situation?"

"No." His smile fell.

"Don't worry about it, Olivia looks like she's thinking hard enough for the both of you." She said, looking to the girl who was eyeing a lever with more intensity than a single lever really deserved.

Jesse passed an indistinct booth for redstone repeaters that was closed down for the night, stopping on the outskirts of a small group watching a man jumping on slime block, advertising the slime booth behind him. She visibly lit up at the _"__FREE"_ sign.

"Hm…" She tapped her cheek, narrowing her eyes in thought as she mumbled to herself. "I bet I could reach that glass with a slime block. Reuben?"

The pig looked up from where he stood at her heels.

"Reuben. I need you guidance. What would you do in a situation like this?"

He closed his eyes sagely, nodding once with a single oink.

"I year ya brother." She said, patting his head.

Approaching the line-less slime booth, she stopped short, the attendant already glaring at her. It was the woman she'd mistaken for Ivor.

"Ooh, hey! We meet again!" She laughed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of her head. "Um… one slime block, please?"

She crossed her arms. "We don't give out slime blocks here, just slimeballs."

She held up two green, gelatinous orbs from under the counter, showing them to her. "You could craft a slime block yourself, but we've got a limited supply today and we're only giving out two per person."

"Hey, um," Jesse tapped her fingers together, feeling thoroughly patronized by the woman's stare, "I'm really sorry about early. I honestly thought you were someone else."

"Apology accepted." She said, though her face remained impassive. She carefully handed the slimeballs to Jesse, who took them with a grateful smile.

"Thanks—"

"A round of slimeballs for everyone, please!" She heard Axel's voice approach from behind, Jesse turning to the sight of Petra and Olivia on either side of him, grinning and forming up in a short line. The woman seemed to sigh, but pulled up a flat, open-topped crate beside her and doled out the green balls to everyone. They grinned around at each other, leaving in the opposite direction with their slimy haul.

"Wait." Jesse said, stopping and looking over the squishy orbs they had amassed, "This is only eight slimeballs, we need one more to make a block."

"Okay, we need to find another way to get some more slime, and quick."

"On it!" Axel ran off with Olivia. Jesse distantly wondered where they thought they were even running to.

She looked to Petra, "I'm gonna try the slime lady again. Come with?"

"Can't, sorry. I'm going to head around and ask people if they can spare one. There has to be someone here who can bear to part with a ball of slime."

"All right well, good luck."

"Back at you."

They parted, Jesse heading down the stall-made path back to the three teal green banners painted with green squares.

She smiled a bit sheepishly as she came to a stop at the booth, receiving a raised brow at her returned presence. "Hi, me again."

"Yes, you again."

"Um! Just—one more thing, ma'am?" She worried her hands, the tall woman before emitting major angry-mom vibes. "Could I get another slimeball, please?"

"I'm afraid not, kid. If I break the rules for you, then I have to break them for everybody and then I'll be out of slime completely."

"Come ooon, please?" She clasped her hands together before her, smiling up at the attendant who merely gave her a look that sent Jesse slinking away, feeling like she had just been silently scolded.

She looked around, helplessly. "We just need one more slimeball, Reuben. Why is this so difficult?"

Reuben stood up, balancing his front hooves on her leg to get his snout into her hand holding the slime. Jesse moved away with a _"__Hey!"_

"No, these aren't for you. I know they smell weird, but—oh!" Her face brightened in realization. "Okay. Do these smell different enough that you think you could pick them out in a crowd? Think truffle season, but with slime."

Catching on to what she was getting at, Reuben squealed affirmatively, leaning forwards and pressing his nose in her lowered hand, snuffling and coming back with a slime covered nose. He took off.

"Hey, wait!" Jesse ran after an oinking Reuben, who skidded around a corner. She heard a loud squeal and then a shrill yell from someone.

"Oh, jeez." She said under her breath, rounding the corner and finding Lukas up on a booth, both arms wrapped around a pole as Reuben jumped for the slimeball he held in his hand.

"Reuben! Down!"

Reuben turned towards her, running to her and looking proud of himself, butt wagging.

"_Yes_, good boy. C'mere." She cooed, opening her inventory and letting her old shirt drop into her hands, wiping it over his snout with a hand holding his chin up.

_"Good boy?"_ Lukas sputtered as he let go of the pole, standing from the booth and trying to adjust his jacket like he hadn't just physically climbed onto a stall to get away from a small pig.

"Hey, Lukas. Sorry about that. Give me a second," She looked to Reuben, pointing a finger at him, "No. No scaring Lukas. It was cute the first time but we do not scare Lukas anymore, Okay? Now go and apologize."

Reuben looked away with a huff, but dragged himself over to Lukas, who took a measured step back, The pig nudged the other's leg with his head followed by a soft oink. Jesse waddled over to them, still squatting on the ground she could stay at Reuben-height.

"Give him a pet." She smiled, craning her neck up at Lukas, "He only ever bites Axel, don't worry."

He looked at her, unsure, but she beckoned him forward, grabbing his hand and placing it over a grumpy Reuben's head. The blond awkwardly gave him a robotic-like pat.

Jesse stood with a small grin, throwing the folded shirt into her inventory and looking between the two of them.

"Settled?" She asked Reuben, who made a reluctant snorting noise. It was good enough for Jesse, who gave him another quick, _"__Good boy."_

"So, hey, Lukas." She said, "Can I ask you something?"

"What, and not address what just happened?" He tossed the slimeball in his hand once, catching it.

"Uh, yeah, sorry. I told him to sniff out some slime and he just gets like, really excited by crowds—and he also might sometimes take on my opinions of people, and get protective?"

"And that was your opinion of me?"

"I mean earlier today it was," She admitted. "But I didn't know you were cool then."

He blew out a sigh, pushing back a stray piece of hair and looking at her. "What's your question."

"Actually it was more like a favor I was gonna ask if you could do."

He paused. "Anything's possible."

"I need slimeballs." Lukas gave a slight quirk of his brow, and Jesse quickly held up her hands, "I swear, I have a _really_ good explanation."

He shot a look at something over her shoulder, smiling and crossing his arms. He held out his slimeball and Jesse accepted it with an appreciative smile. "Whatever you're doing, count me in."

She looked behind her, seeing a smiling Petra accompanied by Olivia and Axel.

"Told you he was useful." Petra whispered to Jesse, hand on her shoulder.

"Aw man—this guy isn't actually cool is he?" Axel asked.

"Remains to be seen." Olivia looked him over with distaste.

"Guys, come on. Let's just get crafting, okay?" Jesse cut in, taking Axel and Olivia by the arms and leading them to an open boothed crafting station. Petra pushed Lukas along with a hint of an encouraging smile.

They all huddled around Jesse at the crafting table, placing their slimeballs out onto the scratched wooden surface for her. The dark haired girl rolled them with her arm to the guided grid of squares, carefully placing a slime in each one.

"So, you guys been building together long? You've got good chemistry." She heard Lukas say, voice friendly.

"You jealous?" Axel asked.

"I'm just saying, I think it's cool you have a team that works so well together."

"You're _totally_ jealous." He snorted, moving closer to Jesse and gazing down over her shoulder, "How's it goin' Jess?"

She hadn't realized she had stopped, distracted by the short conversation over her shoulder.

"You know how to do this—a slime in every slot, and in every slot a slime."

"I know how to make a slime block Axel, I just want this to bind together as strongly as it can." She said, brushing her braid over her shoulder once more.

She placed the last ball in the middle square, wiping her hands against her overalls, the slime shuddering in place before surging together into a cube.

"Ta-da! One slime block." Jesse smiled. She examined it, smacking the cube and watching it jiggle. "Gross."

"And I'll be taking that." Olivia picked up the block and walked over near the machine, looking up at the glass pane and then down at the ground a few times before placing it, "Riiight… there. The perfect distance."

"It's all you, Jesse. You're the smallest; you'll fly the farthest." Axel said.

"Right, gimme a boost!"

He leaned down, and she crawled up his back, standing on his shoulders and jumping. Her hands just barely reached the flat roof of the building station. She swung a leg over the ledge, pulling herself up with a grunt. Walking to the edge, she looked down at the slime block waiting for her. Petra and Lukas had moved to the base of the machine, holding their interlocked arms out in front of them.

"We'll catch you!" Lukas called.

"Try to." Petra added.

Brows lowered in determination, she nodded, backing up. Bouncing on her heels and steeling her nerves, she ran forwards and lunged off, giving herself extra momentum by propelling herself off the side with her legs. She brought her arms and legs together as she fell, landing down on the block and rebounding off at a speed she hadn't been prepared for. She coiled her fist back nonetheless, punching out the glass planes as she hit the machine with the side of her body, chickens instantly pouring out.

She let herself fall to the ground, landing back first over two pairs of arms. She opened her eyes, looking up with a smile.

"Thanks guys."

"What're friends for?" Petra said, letting her get up and stand to her feet.

"My poultry! My precious poultry!" A mustached man with thick glasses ran around the machine, attempting to grab at the chickens and stuff them in his shirt.

Jesse placed a hand on her hip, walking to stand next to a smiling Axel who was standing by the Hall's gate. They watched the chaos fold out together. The usher ran from his position, screaming.

"Keep your eyes closed! They'll peck out your eyes!" He tripped, shrieking as chickens ran across his body with their little feet.

"Do you feel bad?" She asked Axel.

He paused for a moment, thinking. "…Nah"

"Me neither."

"You two need to be separated." Olivia said from where she came up next to Jesse, arms crossed.

"Now's our chance!" Petra cried, running past the gate. Jesse grabbed Reuben who was being drowned in chickens and secured him under her arms, running up the steps with a grin.

* * *

again, sorry for the not so great chapter. leave a review maybe? also if there are any mistakes lmk


	6. Chapter 6

Ooooooooohh this was HELL TO WRITE. If i thought the beginning of chapter four and the majority of ch 5 were hard to write and edit, they were nothing in comparison. The scenes in the game are just so empty sometimes despite any action happening and I have to fill in the blanks while still following the story so i can connect what ive written into it. The golem and the wither definitely gave me the most grief, just because theyre so slow/stationary and only do one or two things im just glad i dont have to write any sort of action scenes with the wither for a while. writing a room full of characters is still hard, that hasnt changed.

Anyway, a few minor things are changed around here, specifically using jesse's curiosity to fill in plot holes and changing things. so she calls gabriel sir to his face rather than just his name, ive always found it a little weird that she just sort of does that. calls this super well known celebrity warrior by his first name.

And one thing about jesse's character. I know how i write her contrasts a bit compared to chapter one tree house jesse, but people act different in different situations and i feel like jesse doesnt handle stress very well. Like she tries to stay optimistic but will get cranky after a while. So no worries to anyone thinking im changing her character in the span of one day (for her at least). She will obviously change some, but itll be over a period of time. Im extending the whole 'find the order of the stone' members quest past a week, which is what i think the duration of it was in canon probably. Theyre traveling on foot for most of the journey and it will take a bit longer than just a week or two. Plus it gives me more time to do stuff lol

Youll see some more of "people treating jesse like she needs protecting because shes 5'2" and is kinda dumb sometimes." less so from petra tho, who is still sort of on the edge of that but at the same time knows jesse isnt fragile from everything thats happened between ch 4-5. Youll see it the least from lucas, who still doesnt really know jesse and is still at a point where his character is kind of a coward. Maybe if you squint youll see some, but i didnt deliberately write any in. and the "protect small pig girl" instinct really only kicks in when theyre in a Situation™. Rationally, they know that they can trust jesse and know she wont do anything incredibly dumb in terms of risking her life or severe bodily harm, at least not on purpose, but still

Anyway, i tacked on both chapter 7 and 8 to this because the were both too short and even combined were too short for a proper chapter length of this story so this is a very long chapter. I also went back and edited chapter 5 because there we a lot of mistakes. there are probably mistakes in this because i edited in one go, so lmk if theres anything like really obvious i missed

anyway enjoy this chapter thats 12k words long because i have zero chill

* * *

The ceiling of Keystone Hall must have been over forty feet high. Designs of golems were carved into the molding, the base of the domed tower circled with polished diorite columns accentuated with smooth slabs of quartz. Massive cedar beams crossed over the arid space above in decorative grids, fat raw glowstone hanging from the wood and lighting the large area beneath, shedding light over employees readying the Hall for the Keynote event. There were hardly any doors on the ground floor, mostly arches. Decorating the central archway that stretched over the stage was a masterfully done wool and timber Ender dragon. Black and purple streamers worked their way down pillars and weaved through tall, wooden screens separating the entryway from the main room.

Their shoes squeaked across the polished flagstone floor had been shipped in years back, made with a stone of soft blue hues. They passed neatly pruned shrubs lining the both inside the entrance and out.

"Where'd he go?" Petra asked, looking around.

"There!" Jesse whispered, pointing to an unassuming side door hidden by the wooden supports of the building. The doorway was ajar, swinging lightly on its hinges. "Through that door!"

The group of six ran past tall, rectangular windows made from glass of the deepest green, reflecting redstone torches off the clean surface.

"Hold on." Lukas stopped as Jesse was squeezing herself through the heavy door, the girl batting away Axel's help. Petra grabbed her shoulder, making her pause and looked to the blond.

"What do we do once we catch him? There are a million ways to play this." He glanced at Jesse. "Considering this isn't my fight, I'll follow your lead. I just feel like we should have a game plan."

"We politely ask for what's ours." She said simply, smiling.

"Short, sweet, and to the point. Not bad."

"Just like me," Jesse said to no one in particular, Petra smacking the back of her head.

"Focus. Is everyone ready?" The redhead asked, eyes over each of them.

"Ready." Jesse said.

"All right, lead the way, Jess."

"Aw, you called me Jess—"

_"Lead the way."_ She ground out through gritted teeth, ears pink.

Jesse grinned, ducking her head and raising her hands nonthreateningly as she pushed the substantial door open for the others, Axel grabbing and holding it open as it bumped the wooden door-stop.

The cold, damp air wrapped around her like a heavy coat of chain mail as she descended the tight staircase, squinting in the dimness from the absence of flaming torches.

She peeked her head out from the corner, peering into a semi-lit mildewy library-basement-dungeon combo. It smelled sharply of potion ingredients, giving off a cloying scent that made her eyes itch. She felt the rest of the group looking from over her shoulders, Reuben whining apprehensively from the position he'd taken over Axel's back.

"See anything?"

"He must've gone out another way." Petra let out a breath she's been holding, stepping out and looking around with her hands on her hips.

Everyone followed suit, walking down the short stairs that led to a small labyrinth of bookshelves stacked with potions of differing shapes and colors. The tall shelves had arbitrary openings in them acting as window-like formations and ledges for dusty volumes and bottled elixirs to collect.

"What is all this?" Olivia asked, blowing the dust off a tightly packed line of books and tilting her head to read the spines.

"Looks like it used to be the basement," Jesse said, stepping up next to Petra and studying the run-down room with a judging eye. "Weird place to have a hideout, but okay."

"I bet you anything I'll find my Wither skull down here."

Axel was looking this way and that with a fixed grin on his face, setting Reuben down from where he had been hanging over his shoulder. "And if we find anything else cool to steal along the way so be it, right?"

"That's not what we're here to do," Petra said in a stern voice, proceeding towards a bookshelf and looking at a dark blue, viscous potion that bubbled.

"I said we should ask politely Axel, not rob him." Jesse said, wandering through the books.

"Yeah, but if the guy's not here we can't ask. So I say, we take."

"I don't want to stoop to his level," Petra responded, swirling around a vial by its top curiously before setting it down.

"But isn't that the best plan to get back at him?"

"Let's just focus on finding the skull, not looting," Jesse said, head poking out of a gap in the bookcase to look at him.

"There's always time for looting. Nobody ever lets me have any fun."

"We let you hang out with us!" She retorted defensively.

"Living together and hanging out are two very different things."

"Axel. No, they aren't." Olivia said, sticking her head out from a shelf as well. Lukas watched them silently by the stairs, Reuben hunkering down beside him with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey, the faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get the heck out of here," Jesse said, leveling Axel with a reproachful look before heading further into the compact labyrinth and looking over the shelved books.

Padding down the short corridor, most of the texts were about brewing and were dogeared to an offensive extent. Thin fingerprints danced over the covers and across the spines, interrupted the film of dust laying over the books in a delicate sheet. There were stacks of tomes at the top that looked like they had never been opened, much less even touched. Twisting around a turn and wandering across a tall bookshelf that stood alone, Jesse came across Petra who had buried herself in a chest.

"Oh, hello." The redhead said slowly, pulling out a golden sword that gleamed in the light of a torch above. She gave it a few imitative swings, causing an approaching Jesse to duck out of the way.

"Eh, too heavy—and too soft."

"But super flashy." Jesse commented, smiling a little at her warped reflection in the blade.

"Mm. I don't think this Ivor-guy does much fighting." She shrugged, looking to the other girl. "Hey, you still have that one stone sword, right?"

"Yeah, I had to like wave it at some guy earlier." Jesse said, Petra nodding at her to continue. "Oh, this butcher who I've literally never seen in my life was ready to seriously cut open Reuben. Like, just right there, in front of the whole Con."

"Impressive. You, I mean. Not him." She commented idly, pulling her stone sword from her back and looking at it before shrugging and tossing it to the ground with a loud clatter, sheathing the gold blade in its place.

"What, you're keeping it? But I thought it was _too soft, too heavy."_

"It could come in handy." She said, kicking her old weapon behind the chest. "And, it is super flashy."

"I thought you said no stealing?" Jesse crossed her arms and smiled with a raised brow.

"It's not stealing if I'm replacing it." She gestured to the sword that lay halfway behind the chest. Petra looked to Axel, who stood nearby. "Now, Axel? I would worry about. Go check on him, would you?"

"Deflecting me, I see."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She sniffed indignantly, a grin sliding over her mouth despite herself.

"Whatever you say." Jesse shook her head at her in mock disappointment and turned around.

Catching sight of Axel a few aisles away she drew closer, stopping when she made it to his side. He was staring up at a metal rack of potions hammered into the stone wall with fat spikes.

"Find anything?"

"I wanna steal that, and that," He glanced at a dotted mushroom growing out of a crack in the wall. "I just wanna touch that."

She rolled her eyes, ready to leave him to it but her eyes were snagged by the faint light of a glowing, violet potion set over a chiseled block of quartz.

"Hey, take a look at this…"

A glaze of changing colors seemed to cover the inner layer of the glass like unmoving honey. She and Axel brought their faces in close, an unnatural pink reflecting off their skin.

"You're not gonna believe me, but I swear I had a dream about this," Axel said quietly, eyes wide. "Okay potion—I know this is a big step… but I'd be honored if you'd come home with me."

"Come on Axel, leave it alone."

"I am." He said, reaching his hands out and snatching the flask.

"Uh, nope. You're literally doing the exact opposite of what I just asked you to do." She said, watching him place it carefully inside his inventory. "There's no way he won't notice his fancy potion is missing."

"Which is why a good thief always covered his tracks." He looked around, then grabbed a light purple potion that held a similar shape, placing it down gently then stepping back and holding his hands out, closing an eye as he inspected the positioning. He dropped his arms and smiled, looking to Jesse and whispering loudly, "Fixed it!"

"Oh, yeah, the perfect crime." She hissed back as he scuttled away from her with an absolute giggle.

She passed Olivia, who seemed engrossed in a bookshelf pressed tightly into the stone wall, a tower of lapis blocks reaching up the ceiling on either side. Continuing past her, she zeroed in on Lukas.

"Hey Lukas, anything so far?" She asked, closing in on the blond who was hunched down by a low, single blocked shelf.

He took out a hardback from a stack he had made next to him, holding it up with a half-grin, "You want an instruction manual on How To Build a Creepy Villain Lair Using Everyday Objects?"

"Oh, you are not serious." Jesse laughed.

"Dead." he said, offering her the faded red text with gold lettering that looked like it should contain an ancient potion recipe, not a villain for dummies book. She took the offered object, flipping the cover over with a muffled snort.

"Well, we haven't found the skull, but we did find probably the next best thing here." She handed the book back after turning through the yellowing pages, with notable chapters such as _'The benefits of the Common Household Spider Web'_ and _'Evil Laughter and You'_ and _'Make Your Neighbors Fear you.'_

"This guy is a joke, like he cannot be for real."

"Well he's no slouch when it comes to enchanting, I can say that for sure. Most of this is pretty advanced stuff." Lukas admitted. "Not the best reads, though."

"Yeah, well let's just keep looking. We'll be out of here soon."

Reuben squealed for her attention, and she looked around to see him facing her next to the chiseled quartz block. She crossed the room, kneeling down in front of him. "What's up, Reuben? Find any clues?"

He made a warbling noise, sniffing over an old black and blue carpet draped over that section of the floor before pointing like an arrow towards the nearest corner.

"What is it buddy, you smell something? Something over there?" She stood and Reuben ran over to a lever in affirmation, oinking. "Oh, good work Reuben!"

He squealed softly, eyes closing in a smile and looking proud of himself.

"Uh, hey guys? I'm about to pull a mysterious lever, so heads up." Jesse called, cranking the rusty lever down, half expecting it to snap off.

"You're what—" Olivia started to ask, then jumped back when the hiss of cogs and redstone wire igniting sounded through the walls, the bookshelf in front of her sinking into the floor and revealing a tall, two-foot space Illuminated by a glowstone deck. There were three blocks of brown, swirling sand surrounding a beige block with an iron square centered in the middle, lit by nine small holes that blinked in color. A large chest took the foreground, the four blocks behind it resembling outstretched arms protecting it from intruders.

"What is that?" Jesse squinted her eyes, the swirls seemingly moving and form open-mouthed faces the longer she stared.

"Soul sand," Petra answered, moving next to her as the others gathered around. "It was everywhere in the Nether."

"What about that block in the middle?" She pointed.

"I've never seen one of these before…" Olivia strode up the short flight of stairs, holding her palm out over it. "I wonder, if I just take a closer look—do you feel that? It's… almost _pulsing."_

"How is it glowing like that?" Axel asked, stepping up beside Jesse, Lukas on his other side and Reuben between them.

"Maybe it's… some kind of machine?" Jesse moved in tighter between the two, looking to Olivia like she would have the answer.

"If it is, it's not like any machine I've ever seen."

"Creepy block aside, let's not forget what we're here for—find that skull." Petra said, drawing their attention back.

Olivia took that as her queue, stepping down. Jesse turned to follow. She stopped however as she eyed the untouched chest. Looking back, she shifted and crouched down on her knees, clicking the top open. Her brows lifted marginally at its contents.

_"Sooo…_ good news, weird news." She said, "I found the skull, but…"

Petra stepped up to where she was, frowning, "What the…? Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's got two of them already?"

The others crowded behind them, Lukas stepping to Jesse's left to get a better view.

"He was in such a hurry to get it, too." She rubbed her hand over a skull, turning its face towards them. It shined like it had been recently polished. "There has to be something bigger happening here. Something we just don't see."

"Yeah, this has gotta be connected somehow." Jesse crossed her arms, bringing a hand to her chin. "The chest with the skulls was hidden back here with everything else—the soul sand, the weird block—that's gotta mean something."

"But what?"

"I think I know what's going on here." Lukas said, hands over the chest's edges as he pushed himself up, "Soul sand, plus three Wither skulls—that's the recipe for a Wither."

"But… a Wither. That's—"

"One of the worst monsters there is." Lukas cut her off.

"I don't get it, Petra killed one in the Nether like, literally today." Jesse looked up at him. Lukas looked to Petra in return.

She rubbed her neck. "It's not like I fought it off and killed it directly, I would've died. I had to set up at least four different gravel traps for it, and even then that was just a Wither skeleton, not a _Wither-_Wither." Petra admitted.

"We came down here to find the skull. Well, we found it." Jesse let her arms fall to her side, giving a half shrug.

"Maybe we should just grab it and get out of here while we still can."

"Yeah, I dunno about you guys but I'm getting the creeps."

They all froze when the door at the top of the stairwell creaked open then slammed shut.

"Uh, guys?"

"I thought he left, why is he back!?" Jesse whispered harshly.

"I don't know, just—scatter!" Petra yelled back silently, closing the chest and darting away.

Reuben flipped the switch, returning the bookshelf to its former place before running off with Jesse. She grabbed the pig and jumped over an empty opening in a shelf, hiding in a small nook, Reuben receiving a pet and a hushed _"Good job."_

Footsteps echoed down the stairwell. "Don't you recognize me!? Or… wait, surprised to see me? No, that's not good… Thought you were rid of me, didn't you! That's better."

He muttered lowly to himself as he crossed the room and opened a chest. Jesse saw Olivia peak higher over her hiding place, accidentally brushing a stack of precariously balanced books and knocking them to the floor.

"What was that—who's there!" Ivor shouted, looking around. He narrowed his eyes, walking hastily with deliberate steps towards the source of the noise. He stopped, observing the fallen texts and languidly approached the pile, nudging it with a boot. He glowered at the bookshelf as though he could see straight through it.

Olivia had crouched down as far as she could manage, hands over her mouth as she looked to Jesse with wide eyes. Her expression drained to one of panic as Ivor began to walk around the shelf towards her at a steady, slow pace, and Jesse acted on the pleading look in her friend's face.

"Hey!" Jesse yelled, standing. Ivor spun around at her voice.

"What are you doing here?!" He shouted, stalking over and grabbing her by the arm. His voice lowered as he squeezed tightly. "What did you see?"

"Okay, first of all? Ow. second—"

"Leave her alone." Petra emerged from her hiding place.

"Yeah, hands off, pal!" Axel left his spot from behind a chest and crossed his arms. Jesse took the moment to jerk free of him, stepping back with a glare and holding back Reuben with an outstretched foot, the pig looking ready to tear Ivor to shreds. Olivia ran to him, swooping the seething pig from the ground and holding him, rolling her eyes as he started to kick his short legs out in the direction of Ivor like he could telepathically harm him.

"You two?!"

"Four." Axel corrected.

"Did you follow me here?"

"You thought you could just screw us over and get away with it, didn't you?" Petra said, not looking away as she grabbed Lukas by his shirt and pulled him up from his hiding place, the blond looking around nervously.

"We're here to prove that wrong," Jesse said, Axel walking up to tower behind both her and Olivia.

"What are you going to do about it? I have what I want, and you have exactly what you earned." He pointed to the stairs. "Now get out before I put you out."

"We know what you're going down here." Jesse narrowed her eyes, approaching him. "Soul sand and three Wither skulls? You're building a Wither!"

Ivor looked at her in mild surprise before schooling his face. "Hm. Smarter than you look."

"Hey! Nobody talks to my friends like that!" Axel was suddenly advancing on him, Ivor stumbling back. "Now shut your mouth—or else."

"E-Enough! You've wasted too much of my time already." He backed up before taking off, the group of six quick on his tail as Petra yelled _"Hey!"_

Losing track of him surprisingly fast, they skidded to a halt and stood at the end of a corridor of books, searching around.

"Where'd he go?" Petra looked around angrily.

"Maybe he went back for the skulls." Jesse turned on her heel to trek back but stopped dead in her tracks. Four iron blocks arranged in a short T had been set over a level of wooden slabs—they had passed right by it without even noticing. Ivor stood behind it, holding a pumpkin and looking entirely too satisfied with himself.

"Guys…" she said, pointing.

"If you won't leave of your own violation, I'll happily remove you myself!" He placed the gourd down, the ground beneath the iron beginning to tremble as the blocks shook and clanged together in undulating motions. They slammed into each other hard in a blast of fine dust that left Jesse coughing as she futilely shielded her face.

"Show our friends to the door, will you?" She heard Ivor say over the sound of screeching metal. She opened her eyes as a golem came lumbering out of the smoke, swinging a long arm out. She ducked, grabbing Reuben and rolling out of the way as two blunt appendages crashed down over the stone ground. Reuben was shrieking as she was pulled up by Olivia, who pulled her along to the stairs with Petra and Axel despite her insistence that she was fine.

Bursting through the door, the Hall's lights were dimmed and redstone lamps lit up the columns. A single glowstone chunk over the stage was lit and shined down brightly over the polished wood.

"And now! For the first time here at EnderCon! We are very proud to present—"

"—The one! The only!"

"Gabriel!"

They snaked through the crowd, clammy hands holding onto the person in front of and behind them, forming a chain as Petra and Jesse led them to the back of the room away from the swarm of people screaming Gabriel's name.

"Please, please—thank you!" He looked the same as when Jesse had seen him earlier, black armor, with what she now realized was diamond-blue trim, dark skin and a short beard that peaked out of his helmet and stopped just before his chin, curving up and connecting over his upper lip.

"Are—you—with me?!" he yelled, raising his arms and sending the people around them into a frenzy.

Jesse turned, looking over everyone as she set Reuben down. "Everybody okay?"

She received tentative nods from all but Olivia, who was searching around.

"Um… guys?" She said, grabbing their attention over the sound of the crowd. "Where's Lukas?"

"I thought he was right behind me…!" Jesse yelled quietly, turning around and darting her eyes over the mass of people like he would walk right out and apologize for getting separated.

Axel spoke up, worry in his voice, "Well if he's not here, the only place he could be is—"

"He's still down there!" Jesse exclaimed, looking at the door across the Hall.

"Ivor's got an iron golem and all the ingredients to build a Wither down there. If he were to unleash it in this crowd of people—" Petra shook her head. "We have to act fast."

"It just so happens that the greatest warrior of all time is in the building. We should ask Gabriel for help!" Olivia reasoned, "This is the smartest way to help Lukas!"

"He's tough. I just hope he's tough enough to hold out a little longer." Petra ran a hand down her face, clearly stressed.

"We're not just leaving him down there, guys! If you want to get Gabriel, that's fine, but I'm going after Lukas. Who knows what could be going on down there?"

"Are you sure, Jesse?" Petra sounded doubtful.

"Yeah." She nodded, "The rest of you, go get Gabriel."

"We're on it," Olivia said.

"We'll find out a way to warn Gabriel and then we'll meet you back here." Petra held both of her shoulders, "And be careful."

"Always am. Be back as soon as I can." She patted Petra's hands, pulling them off her and running back to the door. Reuben went to follow but was grabbed by Axel.

"Whoa there! No you don't, that is no mission for a piggy." Axel grinned, holding onto him firmly as he tried to escape, "She'll be fine Reuben, when has Jesse ever not been?"

"Nearly every day of her life?" Olivia commented.

Jesse sneaked down the stairs, lurching back and pressed herself against the cold wall at the sight of the golem not three meters away from her. She peeked out again when she heard its heavy footsteps slowly make its way behind a long bookshelf.

Jumping the last step, she crept across the room, staying opposite of the golem. Cupping her hand to her mouth, she began to call out, voice hushed. "Lukas?"

"Can you… hear me… Even though I'm… whispering?"

"Jesse?" He whispered, poking his head out of a large chest against the furthermost wall, making her pause. "Is that you whispering super loudly?"

"Lukas!" She whispered back, rounding a shelf so he could fully see her. "Over here!"

He opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes grew wide and he slammed the top shut over him. Jesse gave the chest a puzzled look before the deep rumbling sound of a golem vibrating its chest in warning began to emanate directly behind her. She instinctively ducked down, hands covering her head just in time to miss a swing from one of its arms. She stood up, backing away towards a wall as it rounded on her.

"Hey!" Lukas creaked open the chest with a short yell, closing it quickly and giving Jesse the opportunity she needed to slide up and over a large opening in the bookshelf next to her, hitting the ground behind the dusty shelf just as the golem looked back to where she had been standing seconds earlier. Hesitantly, Jesse stood as it walked away, defaulting back into patrolling mode as she snuck a look back at the chest.

"You okay?" She asked, voice hushed.

"Uh, I've been worse. I can't say this is the best spot I've ever been in." Lukas said, "Any bright ideas?"

"Just… ruuuuun…"

"Run where?!" He hissed. "You don't think I tried that already?"

"Jeez, okay! Just sit tight, then. I'll get you out!"

"You came back just to tell me that?"

"It's part of the plan!"

"_'Stay exactly where you are'_ is a plan?!"

"Would you please chill! I'm helping you!"

Jesse looked around, snatching a bottle of a sky-blue liquid and ducking back behind her cover. She took a breath then pushed away from the bookshelf and threw the vial at a rack of potions, glass shattering as the multi-colored liquids began mixing together, sizzling and popping. The golem swiveled, turning to the noise and lumbering over.

"Now, Lukas! Run!" She yelled.

He jumped out of the chest, breaking into a dash and passing her. She jumped back from a swinging limb, the golem having crossed the room much faster than she had expected it to. She jerked out of the way of a second swing, landing on her back and crossing her arms over her face as its long appendage hit hard against the edge of the stone wall, sending debris flying across the room. She scrambled to her feet as it raised both arms high, bringing them down and sending a thick fissure through the stone floor. She skidded around a corner and raced through an aisle, emerging near the set of stairs where Lukas stood worriedly, visibly relieved as Jesse came stumbling out.

"Okay Jesse, come on! Let's go!"

Looking behind at the iron golem clunking after them, Jesse pushed on Lukas' back to go faster as they rushed towards the stairs, clambering up the steps past the small archway. Too meager to fit the golem, it came to a stop outside, it's body rumbling like a drum.

"Thanks for coming back for me. I didn't know if anybody was going to."

"Hey," She smiled breathlessly, "No man left behind, right?"

He grinned back, "Right. Guess I owe you one."

Jesse shoved open the door, leaving the dark stairwell as she held it open for Lukas who nodded in thanks.

"Where are the others?" He looked to Jesse, who in turn looked past him towards the stage, locating Axel and the others at the front of the crowd. Gabriel was staring down at him with a withering look.

"Dude, I dunno how I can be any clearer! Weird guy! Doing weird things! In the gross basement!" Axel enunciated. "Why won't you listen to me? What do you want me to do, tell you charades style?"

"I promise you, that's the last thing I want you to do." Gabriel said in a long-suffering tone.

Lukas beckoned Jesse through the crowd, and they slid past people until reaching the front. Jesse tapped on Petra and Olivia's shoulder, giving them a smile.

"Four words; six syllables; sounds like—_'schmonster in the schmasement.'"_

Gabriel rubbed a hand over his face. "Next!"

"Wait, just—"

_"I_ have a question for you." A familiar voice rang out from the throng of people.

"Excuse me sir, you'll have to wait your turn." Gabriel stated patiently.

"Just tell me first—do you really believe anyone can be great?"

"With enough hard work, yes."

Ivor forced himself through the crown, parting through the front with his long arms like the people in his way were nothing but curtains. "Was that where I went wrong! I simply didn't work hard enough?!"

"Ivor?" Gabriel squinted his eyes, the tone of his voice wavering over the line of incredulity and unequivocal outrage, "Is that truly you? How dare you interrupt like this!"

"That's the guy who attacked us in the basement!" Jesse yelled, the crowd around them murmuring.

"I wish I could say I was surprised." Gabriel shook his head at her.

"If its surprises you want, you're in for a treat." Ivor said, voice low. "Why don't you tell them the real story, Gabriel?!"

"Wait, how do you know who he is?" Jesse questioned.

"I don't know if I really ever knew him. But what I did know, I didn't like."

"The feeling is entirely mutual."

"I see time has made you bitter."

"And it's made you an even bigger fool." He growled, moving to mockingly wrap an arm over Garbiel's shoulder, gesturing out to the audience. "Now, these people were promised greatness! And I'm ready to deliver. I'm sorry this is how they had to learn the truth."

He released the other man with a shove, walking to the back of the stage, where Jesse saw a lever that had been painted white, practically blending into the wall.

"Mister Gabriel, sir—stop him!" She cried, attempting to run past Axel to the base of the stage, but was grabbed around the middle by said boy.

He flipped the thin lever, and the mystery block surrounded by soul sand rose from the ground haltingly, the sound of cranks and the smell of lit redstone emitting from below the floorboards. Two of the black skulls had been placed over the dark, swirling sand, and Ivor slowly removed the third from his inventory.

"Nothing built can last forever, Gabriel." Ivor sneered in a reproachful manner, advancing towards the quasi-Wither.

"Ivor, _no!"_

He placed the skull in the middle, and the air seemed to still as it was sucked towards the skull. There was a half second of deafening silence before the condensed air around it erupted, throwing anyone close backwards with an earsplitting sound wave. She was thrown back as Axel lost his grip on her, Jesse landing and hitting the back of her head hard against the cold floor. Her vision blurred and sounds around her seemed to reverberate madly through her eardrums. Someone was yanking her up, their arms hooked under hers as she was pulled to her feet and dragged back. She opened her eyes, not realizing she had shut them.

A black creature with three Wither heads on spinial necks rose up, and Jesse couldn't move as she stared, wide-eyed. A black spine undulated beneath it like a stiff tail, three prehensile ribs wrapping around the mystery block like shadow-less, black arms. Its expressionless chalky white eyes and mouths contrasting terribly against the dark bone.

"Creature, attack!" Ivor yelled

It reeled back before shooting a fireball that she quickly realized was a flaming skull at her, coming at her fast. She snapped out of it and grabbed hold of whoever was behind her trying to drag her to safety—Olivia, and snatched up Reuben next to them as she threw both herself and the other two out of the way. They landed in a heap, and Jesse looked up at the steaming crater where they had just been, her hands grabbing the edge of it so she could quickly twist off the girl beneath her. The rock surrounding it had turned ice-cold, cracking the floor around it in the abrupt drop of temperature through the hard marble, micro-fractures spreading from it like thin vines.

The last of the screaming crowd had filtered out the exit as the marble cracked loudly once, then broke apart into jagged pieces with a shudder, drawn up into the air like it had lost gravity and pulled towards the Wither. Columns where breaking off from where they stood like they were nothing but sticks, cracking apart around the skeleton-creature and fading to black, merging with its body. Chunks of the walls were being torn off as she helped Olivia to her feel, regrouping with the others

Gabriel had jumped across the gaps in the floor, holding his arm out in front of the young group as he drew a glimmering diamond sword from his back. "Everyone stay calm! This foul beast is no match for me."

"Creature!" Ivor yelled, pointing to Gabriel, "Attack!"

The man in front of them jumped, attempting to stab it with his weapon, but was merely knocked to the ground with a loud clunk of armor against marble. Jesse ran to his side, pulling at his arm, but he only looked to Ivor.

"What have you done?"

"You need to get up—!"

"No! Stay away!" He yelled, pulling free of her grasp, "It's after me, not you."

"Look at him! The Mighty Gabriel!' Ivor yelled, watching him rise faultily from the ground, refusing Jesse's help. "Looks like true greatness is out of his reach."

The sparse amount of furniture was beginning to be pulled in, the decorative Ender dragon breaking apart and shooting over their heads, dissolving along the way.

"He may not be able to defeat this creature. But I can!" Ivor hardly flinched as slabs of granite were torn from the ground around him. "Creature! Retreat!"

The now massive thing slowly looked to him, it's middle face shifting and contorting into one glowing purple eye, its bright mouth full of quartz fragments. Remnants of fractured blocks flew around it like flies as it looked down over the yelling man.

Ivor cleared his throat, "Creature! Retreat—retreat, I said! Retreat!"

"Ivor, _what_ are you doing?!" Jesse yelled.

"Uh, no need to be alarmed, my friends." He said, despite sounding very alarmed himself. He pulled a light purple potion from his robes. "I have an elixir that will destroy this creature."

"That potion, is that—"

"Uh-oh." Axel said out of the corner of his mouth, side eyeing Jesse who was glaring at him.

Ivor grunted as he threw the bottle with all his might, hitting the mystery block dead center. The Wither only growled hoarsely from deep within it somewhere, coming in close at a frightening speed.

"What?" Ivor said, looking as dumbfounded as anyone could look in the current situation. "Impossible. It should have worked, I-I took such care—"

"The potion—Axel! You've got to throw the real potion!" Olivia shook him.

"But—findies keepies!" He said, taking out the flask and looking down at it forlornly.

"You thieves! You're ruining everything!" Ivor shouted, attempting to stalk up to them but was promptly grabbed by the collar of his robe by a furious looking Petra.

"Axel, come on!" Lukas yelled.

Jesse snatched the glowing bottle from Axel's hands when he said nothing, closing an eye for better aim and reeling her arm back, ready to throw.

"Jesse, throw it!"

"Give me a second! I've only got one shot at this!"

Jumping a few steps back, she launched the potion with everything she had. It soared through the air, directly in line with the center block before it was shut over at the last moment by the Wither.

"It's protecting itself! Without the command block exposed, the potion is… useless!" Ivor said. Jesse turned to him and he gave her a seething look. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!"

Jesse was disinclined to bother feeling bad for him. He backed up, looking around at all the eyes on him, then turned and made a run for the exit.

Gabriel looked to him. "Ivor! You coward, come back here_—Augh!"_

A deep purple beam flowed from the monster's eye and washed over Gabriel's skin, dragging him off the ground like he was nothing. Olivia immediately broke into a run, grabbing him by the ankle, crying out when it began to lift her as well.

"Jesse, help!"

Said girl bound over, vaulting up and hauling Gabrial down, bringing Olivia back to her feet in the process. They worked to free the man from the force of light he was being drawn into. A final yank and he was pulled from the light, hitting the floor with a metallic clank.

"Thank you." He breathed, Jesse and Olivia pulling him to his feet. Gabriel watched as the Wither rose up towards the glass dome, ink-black tentacles that curled and twisted over one another budding from its surface. "Ivor was right about one thing—I can't defeat that, not on my own. Everyone's running away except... for all of you. Will you help me?"

He turned to face them all as he continued, not waiting for an answer, "I must get to the temple—but what needs to happen after that, I cannot do by myself."

"Of course, let's just get out of here!" Jesse responded.

"This way!"

They rushed from the hall as the glass dome collapsed in on itself, the building torn open like it had been made of nothing but splintering wood. Tentacles unfurled from the massive cavity of the open dome as the behemoth rose from the remains, revealing the two side heads mutating, both pairs of eyes closing and merging together before opening wide to reveal pure white orbs glowing a faint purple. Light gathered where pupils would be, bubbling over the milky irises before shooting out into magenta spotlights that hit the ground with a powerful kinetic force. What part of its body that wasn't a writhing outgrowth seemed to be no more than a mass of black, like someone had punched a hole through the night sky, leaving nothing but a sucking abyss.

People were running in a total panic, knocking into Jesse and shoving her shoulders as she ran down the wide stairs three at a time, bodies all around her getting snagged by the beam and lifted away. There was a sudden sense of weightlessness as she looked down, seeing the ground beneath her growing farther away. The stone she'd been standing on moments earlier shook violently and was torn from its foundations. She looked around in a panic, quickly using the momentum of blocks around her to push off debris, reaching the wide girth of stone and holding onto the edge. The tractor beam left an unpleasant, tingling feeling over her purple lit skin, making her want to let go and violently brush herself down like there were bugs covering her body.

"Guys!" She shouted as she held fast to her single anchor, but she couldn't spot anyone. A chicken sucked up with her was flapping its wings wildly, managing to exit the light and flutter to the ground unharmed.

Jesse gritted her teeth, eyes set on the other side of the stair slab in determination as she climbed her way across, grunting with the effort of trying to keep a solid grip on the edge of blunt stairs. She grabbed the ledge, yanking herself forward and out of the beam, inadvertently sending herself sailing to the ground. She managed to duck and roll onto solid terrain, cushioning herself from the initial impact, but tripped over a short set of stairs and plummeted down hard, skimming her palms and chin against the gritty cobbled brickwork. She shakily got to her feet, surveying the once warm, thriving collection of booths. People were yelling, catching like flies in the concentrated purple glow. She ran, jumping over a gathering of chickens and nearly slammed into a stall as she turned sharply.

She caught sight of Lukas in a mass of people, running. She cupped a hand over her mouth, raising the other in the air to garner his attention. "Lukas!"

He turned, skidding to a halt and charging in the opposite direction towards her. She met him halfway between the safety of two booths.

"_Holy_ crap!" He had a hand on her shoulder as he hunched over, catching his breath, "Oh man, if I was still in that basement I… just—thanks for coming back for me Jesse. I wouldn't be here without you."

"Jesse!" She heard Petra's voice, looking over across the street at the mask stand and seeing the redhead with the others. She and Lukas made a run for it, sliding under the tarp and joining them.

The stall immediately began to rumble before anyone could even open their mouths to speak. The supports creaked and snapped, Jesse leaning over and covering Reuben from the scraps of sharp wood that shot out. Their cover was blown away like it was nothing but an umbrella on a windy beach, a beam pointing directly over all six of them.

"Wait, wait! We have to stay together!" Jesse cried as they all scattered from the purple light.

"Jesse! Help me!"

She turned, eyes widening at the sight of Petra ascending with the remnants of the booth. She struggled in the air, yelling as the ground grew farther away before a sweaty hand was over her wrist, grasping it tightly. Petra interlocked her hand over Jesse's own wrist so she wouldn't slip away from the girl, who was holding onto a splinted pole the beam hadn't been able to loosen from the ground. Jesse's eyes squeezed shut at the Wither's pulling force exerting itself onto her arm, both of her shoulders straining.

"Can't hold… on…!" The wood she held tight to was cracking under the burden of two bodies, Jesse's feet disconnected from the ground as she looked to their mainstay. "No, no-no-no-no-no-no!"

It finally snapped and they both yelled, Jesse straining her arm out for the pole that was no longer there. They looked at each other, their terrified expressions speaking for themselves as Petra looked up, closing her eyes and squeezing Jesse's wrist, who squeezed back in return.

The two were yanked to a stop so abruptly they almost lost their grips on each other. Jesse felt a vice around her ankle, looking down to the sight of Gabriel yanking them out of the light like it was nothing. With a yell, he veered their bodies to the right and out of the beam, both of them falling over the other. He helped the shaky girls up with a worried look, Axel, Olivia, and Lukas coming up behind him—Reuben inside Axels jacket, head sticking out from the collar.

"D-Do we still have everyone?" Jesse looked around, taking a mental headcount of their group and promptly sinking her hands to her knees and drooping in relief when they were all accounted for.

"We must set out for my fortress, we'll be better protected there!" Gabriel said, waving them along as he set off.

"We're running there?!" Olivia shouted over the noise.

"It's our only option! We can make it, but we must go now!" Gabriel yelled back over his shoulder.

The bottoms of their shoes slapped over stone as they ran, Ruben's body bouncing wildly from inside Axel's hoodie, face alight with fear as they passed their Creeper-dispenser being torn apart with a cacophony of cracking, splintering noises.

"Thanks for that back there." Petra caught up to Jesse's side.

"Yeah, well now we're even, right?"

"ri—_INCOMING!"_ She gasped and abruptly shouted. The leviathan of a Wither had circled around and was shooting projectiles from it's mouths, one of them in their direct line of sight. The two of them jumped out of the way, the blast sending them to the ground on their sides. They helped the other up, nearly tripping back into the ice-cold crater in the process.

Its flaming skulls that looked almost laughably tiny in comparison to the large creature before them were destroying the streets around them, Jesse lagging behind as she avoided falling bricks and rubble scattering the ground among the craters.

The city gates were closing as they ran under them, Jesse just barely sliding underneath the thick iron bar before it dropped with a heavy boom of metal against rock.

They ran towards the forest, the woods quickly catching fire as the Wither turned its attention to it and began firing into the trees.

"Everyone! Keep going! We'll meet up on the other side!" Gabriel yelled before the blinding orange of the woods. Jesse looked at the fork in the road and swerved to the right, jumping over a smoldering log to Axel, Reuben, and Olivia who were running separate from the group. She could hear the pig squealing wildly, and followed the noise as her eyes began to blur from smoke. She had to pause and close her eyes from the already raining soot and cough wildly, sweltering within her clothes as the fire spread alarmingly fast. Unfettered flames licked sparingly at the coppice, twisting and swaying in a dance without rhythm.

The forest had been tinder-dry for weeks, every fallen piece of wood bleached and dehydrated, almost as good as scattered kerosene despite the dewey mornings. Now the wildfire's rage sent billows of black smoke into the dark sky, blocking out the stars.

The fire burned like a temper as if the leaping flames had a terrible anger toward the living world. It crackled wildly as she ran with heaving breaths, moving as swiftly as the flames were. The air smelled and tasted like bonfire while the nighttime horizon glowed orange beneath the smokey, wind-dragged plume. The trees that sheltered so many with their spreading canopy of green were looking like lifeless sticks of charcoal, no more vibrant than the old lamp-posts in the once-city.

The light of the fire illuminated the scorched ground, her only source of comfort as it helped her safely dodged roots and stones she would otherwise be tripping over on every other step. A distant part of her wondered just how far they had run on foot. Time felt like a far-away concept in the endless fiery walls. It felt like they would never leave.

They were no longer in the protected lands, but past the watchtowers and with increasingly rocky terrain. In every direction, there was only fire, and Jesse could imagine falling behind and getting lost without anyone noticing. Panic gripped her chest as she ran, grinding to a stop over the dirt as a tree fell directly in her path, bright red branches casting off all around as Jesse was losing sight of the quasi-trail she had been following. Backing up slowly, she knelt down and took a breath under the least smoky air before jolting to her feet, bracing herself as she ran towards the massive tree. Jumping up and hearing the red-hot wood hiss at her from beneath her boots she launched off the trunk, ducking and rolling through the blackened ground and jumping back into a run.

A faint voice sounded off close to her, "The temple is just up ahead! Follow me!"

She caught the faintest glimpse of Olivia between the trees and took off. Before she could reach the other girl, gargantuan tentacles were coming crashing down through the tree and Jesse cried out, watching with wide eyes the appendage in front of her languidly pulled itself back into the sky. The ground shook behind her, and she saw another, then another, until they were slamming down throughout the forest.

A flaming skull made it past the treeline and burst loudly into a crater a few meters away in front of her. Jesse jumped over the cracking hole, but another black limb struck the earth on the cusp of the crater and Jesse found herself slamming into it mid-air and scrambling for purchase on the appendage. The found she could dig her fingers into the rock-like skin, its surface surprisingly malleable like half cooled lava. She pulled her way up and over it, rolling off the other side just in time for the Wither to heavily drag it away. Standing to her feet, she could see Gabriel's temple in the distance. It appeared to be constructed mainly of stone bricks, thin stretches of blue and white glazed terracotta mimicking great banners framing a long window that bisected the building.

Catching up with Axel and Olivia as the trees cleared out, they reformed into a group as Gabriel and the others came out adjacent to them. They made it across the short stretch of field to the tall building.

"Hurry! Inside the temple!" Gabriel pushed each of them along the clay walkways, tailing them as they ran up the stairs ahead of him. He led them through the towering doors and down a second set of stairs that took them deep into the underground, the area it led to was sparse aside from two round skylights lighting the dark room an eerie gray-blue and an obsidian wall surrounded by multiplier levers. The quiet was deafening, broken only by their heavy breathing.

Reuben slid from Axel's jacket, nearly collapsing on the stone tiled floor. Jesse kneeled down and ushered him to her, smoothing a hand over his ears and overheated skin.

"The inner chamber is built entirely of obsidian. We should be untouchable in there." Gabriel said as he heaved down a large lever, the compact, smooth stone entryway opening up with the soft clicking noise of well-oiled cogs and clean redstone. As they peered inside, Olivia yelled in alarm and Jesse could see the flash of purple light from the corner of her eyes shining through the skylights.

"Go! Get in!" Gabriel shouted, following after the group of six into the domed obsidian room, a portal built in the center. The sound of glass shattering echoed through the rotunda as tentacles came surging through the other room's ceiling. Gabriel unsheathed his sword, holding an arm out as if to physically block the writhing things from them.

"Quickly! If you can get through the portal, you'll be safe!"

Petra and Axel practically launched everyone through the portal despite protests from Olivia, falling out on the other side of the room in a tangled heap.

"Uh, something's not right here." Axel wheezed from beneath the pile of bodies, Olivia and Reuben rolling off him as Petra helped Jesse and Lukas to their feet.

"That's what I was trying to say! It's not lit, we need something to light it!" Olivia yelled, annoyed as she ran her hands through her braided hair exasperatedly.

"Hold on, I can do that!" Jesse fumbled for the flint and steel in her pocket, dropping to her knees and igniting the portal into a swirling, deep purple haze with a single spark.

"Everyone! Get in—_NOW!"_ Petra ordered as Jesse haphazardly dropped the flint and steel into her inventory. Olivia ran in first, followed by Axel who grabbed Reuben securely under his arms and jumped through, likely smashing into Olivia on the other side.

Petra had been ready to go through with Jesse and Lukas when a yell stopped them. A second, pained one followed as the ink-black appendage slammed Gabriel into the ground by his legs.

"Mr. Gabriel!" Jesse hopped from the pedestal without a thought in her head as she ran to the older man, Petra close behind. She used the spaces between his armor to grip onto him and pull. The redhead had wrapped her arms around Jesse's waist, pulling her in turn as they worked to free him.

Without so much as a warning the tentacle released him, the three of them falling back as its undulating form retreated at an unsettlingly fast speed for how large it was. Jesse pulled Gabriel up by an arm, looking over his armor—untouched except for a single dent over the chest plate.

"Make sure he's okay, then let's get out of here!" Petra was slashing her sword across the smaller second tentacle behind them that hadn't retreated with the other, not doing much damage to it.

"Thank you." He winced as he waved Jesse off him, glancing at the other girl as he spoke, "I can't stop this by myself, we need to find the others."

"Others?"

"Soren's been missing for years, but the others; you must seek them out." His voice was raspy, expression pained as he reached within his armor with a shaky hand, removing a shining, braided string from around his neck. Connected to it was a polished elysium ring the size of his palm connected by four decorative gold filigree clasps, each bridged to a golden centerpiece of lapis by garnet, quartz, uncut emerald, and turquoise. "Take this amulet, and guard it with your life."

He pooled the necklace into his other hand, holding it out for Jesse to take. When she hesitated, he took her hand and placed it in her palm with a long look, closing her fingers around it. "You can do this. You must."

"H-How am I even supposed to find Magnus and Ellegaard?" Jesse tried tentatively offering the necklace back, shaking her head. "Listen, I've never left Beacontown in my life. What am I even supposed to do besides find them?"

"The amulet will guide you." He pushed her hands away, taking it from her and placing it over her neck when it was clear she wouldn't stop attempting to give it back. "Take it through the portal, and then—"

A cracking noise that started small and grew in volume stopped him short. They looked up, Gabriel's eyes widening at the gap spreading through the obsidian above them before the volcanic glass burst open. Gabriel pushed her back as a long black limb crashing over the ground between them. Jesse reacted fast, pulling out her sword and bringing it down over the weak tip, making the tentacle convulse and slam into her midsection, throwing her towards Petra. She landed hard on her shoulder, rolling out of the way and getting up as it came down over the spot her prone body had been moments before. It slithered through the air to where Lukas stood frozen by the portal, coiling back when Petra yelled out and jumped, carving down the tough skin. Jesse shot over and shoved the thin peak of the dense tendril away using a foot with a strained grunt, Petra catching her by the arm when she fell back from the resulting inertia.

"You two, go through the portal and meet up with the others!" Petra said, looking between her and Lukas, "I'll stay here and do whatever I can."

"I'm coming with you!" Jesse caught her by the shoulder as the other girl ran to jump from the platform.

"No, you're not." Petra said firmly, lips in a thin line as she shrugged Jesse off. "The gang needs you, Jesse. Go through the portal."

Petra grabbed her by the arm when Jesse hesitated, turning to look back at a retreating Lukas who stood by the portal, looking between them and the purple haze with a conflicted look.

"If anything happens, I'll meet you guys at the temple."

Petra felt Jesse stiffen and turned to where her gaze was. A beam of light was shining down blindingly into the dark chamber from the hole in the ceiling, Gabriel shouting out as he was seized by the purple force. The girls ran to him, Petra about to leap up and grab his ankle when she was abruptly caught in a second glaring light.

_"Can't—get—away from it!"_ Gabriel ground out, his body locking up the higher he was lifted.

Petra looked down at her. "Jesse, do something!"

Narrowing her eyes in a determined focus, Jesse re-sheathed her sword and bolted to Petra. Kicking off hard from a sharp hunk of obsidian on the ground. Lukas was practically rusted in place, Gabriel was yelling something, and Jesse could see the unfiltered panic in Petra's dark eyes. She grabbed Petra's legs and they both swung from the beam from the force of her hurdle. Their bodies thumped across the ground before slowing to a stop. The two girls breathed heavily and looked at one another.

"Thank you, Jesse." Petra helped her up, dusting her off before stopping, eyes widening like she had forgotten where they were and whirled around "Gabriel's still up there!"

"Jesse! Go!" He shouted, holding onto a razor-sharp edge of the shattered ceiling, blood beading from his hands and floating up in small red pellets.

She broke free of Petra, running to the edge of the light that had grabbed Gabriel and standing there uselessly staring up at him.

"You must go!"

A black coil slipped through the wide hole, blindly swinging over her head. She looked to Petra like she would have the answers, but the girl's mouth opened as she began to yell something. Jesse's vision suddenly blurred as a large black mass smashed into her with enough force that she thought she may throw up, hurling her body like a ragdoll into Lukas and sending them both through the portal.

* * *

Hot. It was too hot.

"Get them off each other!"

Her hearing was fuzzed over like a swarm of insects were buzzing in her ears. Jesse's pulse was pounding in her temples and she sucked in an involuntary breath as she felt herself moved to a much more comfortable surface. It felt like she was laying on cobblestone that had been under the sun all day in summer. A hand lifted her head by the neck and rested it against a cushioned surface.

"Jess? Jesse?" Cool skin pressed over her forehead, and she risked opening an eye. She regretted it immediately, shutting it with a wince. Above her was a raw deposit of glowstone, glaring down on her as though she had personally offended it.

"I think she's awake."

"Lukas is waking up!"

Lukas, Lukas—that's the last thing she remembered, Lukas' face as they slammed into each other. She pressed her scraped palms over the hot ground, attempting to sit up when large hands pushed her back. She squinted her eyes open, pointedly avoiding the high ceiling. She saw Olivia first, bent over a head of blond hair. Sweat was shining off her brow as she frantically checked over the prone body. Her lips were moving but her voice was too hushed for Jesse to pick up, even as her hearing returned to her. She tilted her head up, glancing past the bright glass and meeting Axel's face leaning over hers, worry twisting his features. Sweat stuck his hair to his skin and clumped it together, and she tried to push up an arm and swipe them away from his eyes. The appendage fell uselessly to her side, and she tried to sit up again.

"Woah there cowgirl, you're pretty bruised up. Wait until Olivia has had a look-see."

"Reuben." Jesse managed to croak out. It felt like she had swallowed flour.

"Hey, easy. Reuben's right here."

She didn't know where exactly right here was supposed to be in terms of her current position, but a tongue lapped over her cheek and a familiar whining sounding above her as a pink face came into focus. His snout snuffed over her and she laughed, regretting it instantly as she went into a fit of coughs.

"Here, 'Liv had some water in her inventory. It was from the squid vendor though, so proceed with caution." Axel said, shifting before pulling her up by her sides to lean against a leg he had propped. Lukewarm water met her lips and she took it from Axel, gulping it down. She tried to ignore the murkiness.

She sucked the last off it down, shuddering at the suspicious aftertaste. Axel grabbed the empty glass from her and tossed it off the ledge of the outcrop she realized they were precariously close to the edge of. It hit the surface of the lava with a dense plopping nose, glass enveloping in flames as it began to glow bright and melt.

The air in the red, cavernous dimension felt too hot, too heavy to breathe in. It seemed there was no in-between for Jesse today; either she was chilled to her bones or sweltering within her clothes.

"It's pretty cool, huh?" Axel said as he looked around, grabbing her attention back. "Think you can stand?"

"Probably."

"Then let's get you up."

She let Axel pull her to her feet and steady her shoulders despite her quickly receding aches. She looked around a bit wide-eyed. The terrain around them was largely composed of netherrack that formed complex platforms and niches, rivers of magma and lava-falls converging into molten oceans. Glowstone clusters arched over the ceiling in jagged patterns, and she could barely move without stepping on the mushrooms growing abundantly on the ground. Patches of levitating gravel and soul sand that looked like swirling dust which had been frozen midair marred the entrances to small grottos of clear quartz deposits.

"Why is Jesse up?" Olivia asked accusingly, helping Lukas to his feet. "I haven't looked her over yet."

"She's fine." Axel said, holding her shoulders when she began to sway from a sudden bout of dizziness. "See?"

"Anything hurt? Or feel out of place?"

"I mean, everything hurts, but nothing's broken I don't think."

"If you're sure."

She shrugged noncommittally, giving a pale looking Lukas a pat on the back.

Looking around, she ventured a few steps from the portal, hushing Reuben to calm him as he whined behind her.

"Where's Petra? Was too busy trying to get your lazy butt up." Axel questioned..

"More like on the verge of tears because you thought she was dead," Olivia snorted, moving out of the way from a swipe of Axel's hand. "But yeah, I was too busy trying to make sure Lukas wasn't for real dead, I hadn't even realized. Where is Petra?"

Lukas broke the long silence that followed, looking away as he spoke. "...We did everything we could."

"What are you saying?"

"Jesse? What is he talking about?" Olivia asked, wringing her hands as she stood next to Axel, who was giving Lukas a harsh look. "Because it doesn't sound—it doesn't sound good"

Jesse felt her heart constrict, the awe from the Nether leaving her as her mind came back to focus on the situation.

"It was... chaos." She stepped forward, drawing their attention from Lukas. "There wasn't much I could do."

"Jesse's right." Lukas stepped up next to Jesse, taking the attention off her in turn. She had half a mind to smack him for trying to be chivalrous when she was trying to help take the unwarranted blame off him.

She nudged in front of Lukas, "But Petra is still up there—"

"I got scared. Just for a second." Lukas admitted. Abruptly, he was backing up with his hands held out as Axel walked into his space, not looking happy. With a squeal, Reuben ran from the spot between Lukas' ankles he had been settled in.

"You got _scared?"_ He glared down at him incredulously.

"It wasn't my fault—"

"You got scared and it's not your fault?" His hands had tightened into fists, and Jesse was about to intervene before Lukas needed medical attention they wouldn't be able to give him when Olivia's voice cut through the air sharply.

"Back off, Axel."

He stopped at her voice, turning then rounding on Jesse. "We've got to go back!"

"No! We just have to wait!" Olivia grabbed him by the wrist. "Think about what you're walking into."

Jesse sighed, rubbing her hands over her face and looking up at him.

"I'm sorry Axel, she's right. There's nothing you can do." She found herself under the force of his angry stare, "You'll just end up getting yourself killed."

"You don't know that! You don't know!"

"Hey—there she is!" Lukas pointed to the portal, rejoining the group with only a smidgen of hesitation.

Jesse and Axel turned, backing away from where they stood. Purple swirls grew brighter, pulsating within the confines of the obsidian.

"Come on, come on." Jesse was gripping onto Olivia like a vice as she watched, biting her lips together.

She held her breath as the portal rippled like water, then spat out Ivor, who landed hard on the ground in front of them.

_"You!"_ Jesse hissed.

_"You!"_ He hissed right back.

Without warning, a pitch-black tentacle forced its way through the portal, knocking them all over like dominoes as it swung blindly. She and Ivor were barely back to their feet as they stumbled out of the way from the mass as it came down with shaking force, dragging itself back and encircling the portal like a snake, bulging as it squeezed. There was half a second of quiet before the portal shattered with a force wave that sent them flying backward, the now severed appendage unfurling and falling to the ground with a resonating crash over the dark shards. Jesse didn't dare look at the severed end, already coughing into her sleeves as a smell reminiscent of burnt hair and sulfur thickly permeated the air.

They were all silent, looking at the remains of the portal with varying degrees of disbelief and disgust as the appendage twitched, skin cracking. Reuben was pulled away by Olivia when he attempted to investigate.

"You ruined everything," Ivor said lowly, standing and looking to Jesse with a seething look.

"_Excuse_ me?"

"Don't pretend you don't know, thief!" At this he pointed a finger at Axel who stood behind her with his arms crossed. The man's dark eyes were then back on her, "You took my most valuable potion in what should have been my moment of triumph!"

_"This?!"_ Jesse started, waving her hands around them, "Is all your fault!"

"I had a plan! And you Interfered!"

"Your plan was to set off a Wither in a theater full of people!" She yelled, shoving him back a few feet.

"A Wither I could control! That is, until you showed up!" He shouted, righting himself as he held her gaze before turning with a sneer and walking from her, hands behind his back. She couldn't help but notice they were shaking. "There's nothing left up there! Nothing but the Wither Storm!"

"Why are you wasting time arguing with this jerk? We have to go and find Petra!"

"How Axel?! How! the portal—"

"The girl, I saw her." Ivor cut in, a hint of recognition in his voice, his back continuing to face them.

"What?"

"While I was running toward the portal I passed her. She was running in the opposite direction." He shook his head, a hand coming to his beard as he looked to the group. "Such bravery. Of course, there's a fine line between bravery, and stupidity. And your friend—has crossed it!"

He was silent for a moment, looking over them before speaking slowly. "I'm saying she's stupid."

Jesse rolled her eyes, stomping forward with an accusing glare. "Our friend is in trouble—because of you! We're trapped in the Nether—because of _you!_ You're a coward!"

"Maybe. But I survive, and that's what counts!"

"There's more to life than survival!"

"Without survival, there is no life. And you have much bigger problems to contend with." He laughed joylessly, looking in the direction of a massive cave, "Through that tunnel is a network of mine carts built by the order of the stone. It's your only way out."

"Then we should go that way." Axel said a little dumbly as Olivia rolled her eyes

"Times wasting, let's go." Lukas added, gently grabbing her arm. She yanked out of his grip, taking a step towards Ivor.

"I don't remember asking for your help."

"It's not for my sake—"

"Yeah, well, keep it to yourself."

"There's nothing left up there! Nothing but that monster. I don't think you have much of a choice."

Absolutely fuming, Jesse turned to her friends. "I don't like this, but he might be right."

"We were already in agreement with him, Jesse." Lukas said. Olivia glared at him and he backed up, lips closed tightly.

"Bravo, for embracing the truth." Ivor said from behind her.

She whipped around to him, braid swinging over her shoulder as she bristled, about to reply when a distant howling akin to a pained wail echoed across the netherrack. Reuben pressed close to her leg.

"What was that?" Axel demanded, looking to Ivor.

"I would wish you luck, but luck won't carry you through the Nether." He said, ignoring them as he searched through his robe, taking out a corked vial of a pale blue liquid and looking them over one final time. "You have my sympathies."

He threw back his head and swallowed the potion in one gulp, fading from their view like a receding fog as the empty bottle clinked to the ground and rolled to a stop at Jesse's boots.

* * *

again i edited this in one go so it (particularly the end) is probably riddled with mistakes and pacing errors so sorry about that


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is significantly shorter than the last so i understand if its kind of underwhelming lol. But like the last chapter was 12k words so i think that makes up for it. And it isnt THE shortest chapter, that still belongs to chapter threee at 6k. but yeah like this may be boring compared to all the action before, but again, the last chapter was a whole lot so i think that you guys will live

Sorry this took so long. a lots been going on and Ive been working on really editing past chapters bc there are so many mistakes i missed. There will probably be some here too just bc of who i am as a person and also bc this hasnt gone thru like any major major editing. i havent edited the last chapter yet just because its SO LONG but otherwise the stories gone under some mild revisions like grammar issues i missed, wording issues, pacing problems, etc. its by no means perfect and probably isnt even really that noticeable but still

ALSO remember that WIP i had that was basically a ref fr my headcanon jesse for this story? if u do i finally got around to coloring it:

*** https : DOUBLE SLASH jawd DOT tumblr DOT com SLASH image SLASH 188662514569

im also on the mc:sm amino if any of you are on there. im posting my other mcsm related art there along with this story. im at is fruitpackette under the username jawd. hmu there if you want! (or here, im not picky lol)

sidenote: the berries they wash off with are buffaloberries or soap berries, you can use them like soap

* * *

Shrouded_ b_y the sudden darkness of a tunnel lit sparsely by remnants of mined glowstone deposits, Jesse's minecart slammed into lukas', lurching both her and Reuben forwards. All three of the minecarts occupants in front of Jesse turned to look at her. She stared back.

"Is… is everyone okay?" She asked a bit lamely, brushing rubble from herself.

There was an extended silence before Axel let out a sigh, turning to face forwards, "...I mean I'm not dead. I guess that's pretty good."

"Ditto. Ditto with the not dead." Olivia groaned, sinking down into her cart and snapping her goggles to her sweaty forehead from where they had rested over her eyes. The lenses were tinted black with smoke and a lin layer of debris.

"I just can't believe that Petra comes down here all the time." Lukas said breathlessly, attempting to smooth back his wild hair. "This place is awful."

"Petra's a bit more hardcore than I thought." Olivia mumbled

Lukas gave a short chuckle after a moments silence. "Your throat's going to be sore later, Axel."

"Why?" He asked slowly.

"I'm just sayin'," He shrugged, and Jesse could see his cheeks pulling up into a grin from where she sat at the rear. "Wasn't that you doing all that screaming before? Sounded like you were shredding your larynx."

"Oh, yeah! I heard that too!" Olivia turned to the blond, a sly smile overtaking her features as she looked back to Axel and poked him in between the shoulders. "Really high-pitched, kinda like a squeaky piston—"

"What?" Axel interrupted, sounding incredulous. He squinted at Olivia who squinted back, Lukas smiling from behind the two. "No, shut up."

"Yeah, nevermind must have—" Lukas concealed a laugh with a cough. "Must have been something else."

"We were just lucky to make it out of that alive. That's more that's more than most people can say. Their bones are probably still sizzling away in that lava down there…"

Lukas looked behind him. "Jeez, morbid."

Jesse shrugged.

There was a moment's pause as Lukas turned to face forwards once more before Jesse spoke again.

"Hey, you know how you have those experiences you remember and reminisce about for the rest of your lives?" A faux saccharine tone coated her words.

"...Yeah?" Axel prompted when no one spoke.

Her voice dropped. "This? Isn't one of those. Let's never discuss this ever again."

"I can agree with that." Olivia nodded.

Jesse didn't want to ever see a ghast again. They had been notably easy to bring down when she'd put together they weren't fireproof or resistant to their own attacks, but the sheer amount there were in the Nether was enough to give her shudders, what with their beady black eyes and pale twisting tentacles. She had seen enough tentacles for one day to last her a lifetime.

The minecart system consisted of numerous bridges with power rails at several intervals. She realized belatedly it purposefully had challenges to be completed, likely so people couldn't misuse it. It didn't seem like it had been maintained in years, however. Mobs crawled the place, areas were destroyed by ghasts, glowstone lights were shattered, and the tracks felt old and unreliable.

Her dominant arm ached from overuse of her heavy sword. The adrenaline had been keeping her going, but as it subsided her wrist was beginning to throb on top of the weariness she already felt from attempting long, arching slashes on the Wither. She was lucky she hadn't sprained anything. She would need to build up her strength in her arms; Jesse would be the first to admit there was a major lack of muscle in that area. What she knew of forms she couldn't make up for in a properly trained arm. She'd only ever stuck to the lowest weighted training sword, never upgrading to heavier ones to build muscle, they had been too expensive. The one she'd had was a gift axel and olivia, who had to pitch in together to even buy it for her.

They approached a junction, power rails becoming few and far in between as they began to slow, eventually lurching to a stop inside a suspended landmass supporting tall, intersecting arches of nether brick.

They stumbled out of the carts, Jesse helping Reuben out, then Olivia, who's legs seemed to turn to jelly the moment she attempted to exit. The two girls supported each other, Jesse giving Axel a hard look until he reluctantly helped Lukas, who was trying to step out but looked dizzy enough to fall down face first the moment he tried to stand.

Jesse shook away her lightheadedness, taking deep breaths to fight the nausea that stirred inside her.

"Can you throw up, like, inside your body?" She said as Reuben clicked his hooves against the dark brick impatiently, apparently unaffected.

"Uh-huh." Olivia nodded. "I know because I just did. About five times."

Up the stairs, the netherrack seemed to amass like coral over the structure they were on. Growths sprouted from the nether brick that curved high above them. Old, rusted iron fences scattered across the bowed brick in an indiscernible pattern, and Jesse wondered mildly if they once connected the arches into a dome.

"Woah, look at this place." Jesse said, letting go of Olivia who stumbled away to look over the tracks leading in from all sides.

"All these tracks converge at this point. You could probably get anywhere in the world from here, assuming these all lead back to their own Nether portals." Olivia looked around in wonder

"And there's our portal." Jesse pointed, looking to the entryway of obsidian that had congealed with netherrack and sharp looking fragments of iron.

"This is what Gabriel was talking about?" Lukas looked over the swirling, purple haze.

"That's our way out, then. Let's go." Axel stepped over a two by one glass walkway that was built over a small pool of lava, sticking his hand in the swirling purple experimentally. He had to crouch slightly, the nether wart growing from the ceiling of the cave-like entrance built up around the portal skimming the top of his head.

"It must lead back to the surface." Olivia mused.

"The surface is also where that creature is." Lukas said, making Axel pull his hand back like it was on fire.

"He's right" Jesse took a step towards Axel, "We have no idea what we're walking into. It could be dangerous."

He turned to them then back to the thin purple miasma, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well we can't just stand here and not even try it." Olivia reasoned weakly, "Regardless of what could be on the other side."

"That's true…"

"All right, I'm gonna go." Axel announced, facing the portal once again. "I'm going. I'm going right now."

Jesse pulled Reuben back from attempting to join Axel, hefting him into her arms and watching the other expectantly.

"Like, _right_-right now. Um." He began to pat over his jacket. "I just need to make sure I have everything I'll need."

He looked around, "I think I put the uh, thing… over in the, um…"

Jesse shifted Reuben to one arm, setting him down and walking over to reach up and pat Axel's shoulder with a smile. "You got this, Axel."

He smiled back, looking to the portal, "That's right, I do got this."

"Whatever's on the other side? Has no idea what it's got coming." She said, letting go of him to punch his shoulder lightly.

"All right, here I go." He said, casting one last look to Jesse, "Thanks, Jess."

"I'm right behind you." She gave a single reassuring nod..

"Be safe up there, you big oaf." Olivia approached his other side and gave him a playful shove.

"All right, all right. Ready or not, here I come." He edged into the purple haze, stepping through the portal as one would step into an overly hot bath—slow and faultily. He disappeared, the image of him rippled away like a reflection in a pool of muddled water. Reuben made a low whine in the back of his throat, peering up at Jesse. She smiled, setting him down despite his protests.

"It'll be fine, Reuben." She said, stepping forward and into the portal, her hair standing on end as goosebumps erupted over her body as a sensation similar to falling washed over her. She looked behind her, the red of the Nether losing color and brightness as the figures of Olivia and Lukas faded away.

She was then abruptly pulled forwards into chilled air. Engulfed in darkness, she squinted against the bright moonlight shining into her eyes, the sound of falling water surrounded her. She nearly fell face forward into a pool of water as she stepped off the obsidian, managing to regain her balance as her feet splashed into a cold pond. She frowned down at her feet. Her leather boots were going to fall apart at this rate.

A nasally yell captured her attention, and she spotted the prone body of Axel shoving at a zombie.

"Get it off of me!"

"Hold on!" She shouted, sloshing through the water hurriedly and grabbing the zombie around its middle, spinning it away from them with a grunt. It splashed through the shin-length water, hitting the wall of the tall rocks encasing the lagoon. It had barely made it a few feet from the stone before Jesse was in front of it with her sword, slashing across its legs and plunging the weapon into its back as it went down to its knees. It burst into a warm vapor, splashing water over her.

"Oh, man. That was close." She said, looking over the chunks of rotting flesh floating in the water. "Eugh."

She tucked her sword back into place, turning to the boulder Axel had loudly bellyflopped behind in a panic as he emerged, looking around.

"I'm never going first again." He commented bitterly as he waded through the shallow water, wringing his jacket out. The acute sound of the portal activating had them turning towards it, two pairs of feet plonking into the water as Lukas and Olivia emerged, the former holding a struggling Reuben who was apparently not a fan of the physical effects of portals.

"You guys okay?" Lukas asked, carefully making his way through the cold water and towards the shore where she and Axel had waded over. The taller boy had unbuttoned his jacket, leaving him shivering in his white linen shirt as he shook the article of clothing out, squeezing it. Jesse sat next to him on a low rock, emptying her boots out for the second time that night.

"If by okay you mean not cold and wet, then no." Axel grumbled.

"We're fine." Jesse answered, inspecting the bandages over her feet before pulling her shoes back on.

"Where are we?" Olivia asked, joining them at the bank.

"In the dark. In the middle of nowhere." Jesse answered bluntly, walking up the steep incline out of the lagoon. Reuben jumped from Olivia's arms to run to Jesse's side.

"Maybe we should bed down for the night." Lukas said, following Olivia and Axel as they left the muddy brink behind the shorter girl. "It's dangerous to be out when it's this dark."

"I thought we were headed toward a temple." Axel said, jacket slung over his shoulder.

"We're looking for a giant building. It should be pretty obvious." Olivia added, pulling loose the laces of her boots and shaking them out as she walked.

"Ivor said—"

"Oh, 'Ivor said.' Well then maybe this is the temple." Axel gestured to the surrounding nature.

"What?"

"Take it easy, Axel." Jesse said, turning back to look between the two as Lukas moved to stand next to her. She rolled her eyes.

"He called me stupid." Axel said defensively.

"No? I didn't?"

"But you wanted to."

"No, I didn't."

Axel stuck his pinky in his ear. "Huh? Did you say something?"

"We have to build a shelter—" Jesse moved between them.

"I... thought that was what I said, but—"

"I'm agreeing with you, Lukas."

"Oh."

Axel sighed. "It's getting dark and stuff, I guess."

"Axel, it's been dark." Olivia commented snidely.

"Why do you only say yes when Jesse says something?" Lukas asked, crossing his arms. Jesse nearly reached around and smacked him for egging the other on.

"Why do you always stand next to her?" Axel shot back.

"I don't."

"Guys—"

"_I say_ we build a treehouse." Olivia said loudly, shoving them both from each other. Jesse looked at her gratefully as Axel shifted his attention away from Lukas with a frown.

"That'll take forever, and we'll be exposed while we do it." he said, brows furrowing. "We just need a—a quick 'n dirty hut."

"Look, whatever it is, we've gotta do it fast," Lukas interjected. Axel said nothing, but crossed his arms and pointedly avoided eye contact with Jesse who was giving him a look.

"What?" Lukas asked, looking from Axel to Olivia, who rolled her eyes.

Hand on hip, Olivia turned from the blond to face Axel. "In a hut, we won't know what's coming until it's knocking at our door."

"A treehouse is gonna be spider town. I—hate—spiders." He enunciated each word with a chop of his hand.

"Jesse?" Olivia said, turning to their designated tiebreaker.

The shorter only shrugged. "Why don't we just build a hut. It won't take as long."

"What about a combination?" Lukas suggested. "You know, a tiny wooden shack."

"She asked Jesse, not you." Axel nearly growled.

"We don't have time—" Jesse started, raising her voice and drowning out Lukas' reply, silencing him, "—to go collecting supplies. We just need something fast."

The other girl started to protest. "It's not—"

"That's it, Olivia." Axel cut her off. "Jesse made the call."

"We should get started. Here will work fine," Jesse said, approaching a little nook in a short crag they could build into.

Completed, it resembled a shoddy little hut made of ugly dirt bricks. The underside of Jesse's fingernails were caked with earth, her dirt-stained hands matching the others'. Lukas had layered reeds over the bumpy roof. 'In case of rain.' He had said. They had spread pine needles over the floor, offering some amount of cushioning despite how they stuck into their skin. Jesse remedied this by finding the fattest leaves she could and spreading them out in five different mats in the cramped shelter.

Axel had put together a crooked door, and Lukas and Olivia collected enough fallen, dry logs to make into a fire using the flint and steel. There was an air hole centered in the ceiling above their fire which Axel hadn't been happy about, but Olivia assured him the smoke would keep spiders away from it. Nevertheless, Jesse laid a vent of sturdy sticks over the opening in a checkered pattern, packing dirt around it to offer some meager protection.

It wasn't a half-bad hut in Jesse's opinion. It was cosey as far as dirt shacks went, and it was the warmest she had been all night, forest fires excluded. Axel had laid his jacket out to dry, and all of their wet shoes sitting in line by the door.

"All this work and we're still eye level with monsters that are trying to kill us," Olivia muttered into her knees, the sound of far-off groans and the distinct noise of bones clacking together from archers in the distance making her glance at the door

"It's done, it's over. We aren't talking about it anymore." Axel said, shivering in his thin shirt and sitting as close to the fire as he dared.

"We could have maybe done like a multi-level thing, but," Lukas sighed, ignoring Axel's glower, "It's too late now."

Jesse looked at Lukas, stroking Reuben who lay dozing in her lap. He blanched at her stare, looking away.

"I mean, I guess—It's... It's cool."

"Let's just keep it together, guys." She sighed.

Olivia sat adjacent to the fire, legs stretching out in front of her as she undid her wild twin braids, hat and goggles placed next to her in a neat pile. Goosebumps riddled her exposed arms, they had ripped Jesse's old shirt down the middle for her to drape over herself like a raggedy shawl. It wasn't pretty, but it kept some of the chill off her.

The fire projected long shadows on the surrounding walls, crackling and hissing whenever Jesse disturbed the glowing logs with a stick. It had been difficult to start at first; the heat from the meager flame seemed to be sucked into the frigid air before ever reaching their frozen hands. They spent some time huddled around it, adding more wood and sparking the tender alight with the flint and steel. It had seemed to extinguish as if unsure of itself, sending feeble sparks to die in the air. But after a time it managed to grow until the heat warmed them, orange flames casting low light through the small space. It would need to last through the night, and they agreed to take turns staying up and nursing it as well as keeping watch.

Jesse stared bleary-eyed into the fire, hand ceasing its petting and coming to a stop over Reuben's back. Olivia, in all her short-sleeved glory, had saddle up next to her and they leaned against the other. Axel had joined them on their side of the hut, warming his back, his half-dried jacket over his lap as he inspected it after the rough night it had gone through. Lukas was left curled up alone on the other side, arms hanging over his knees as he inspected the pine needles in front of him.

Jesse tried to keep her eyes open, but it was so hard; she was so warm and comfortable. Soon, that was all that she was aware of; the soft pine needles and leaves underneath her, the warmth of the fire, Olivia's side pressed into hers, and the sound of crickets. Her eyes began to drift close, blissfully unaware of anything going on around her.

She jerked awake at Axel's loud voice, startling Reuben back into consciousness with her sudden movements.

"Oh, man!"

"What?" Olivia groaned, on the cusp of sleep herself.

"I'm gonna tell you something. You have to promise not to freak out."

Jesse pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes for a moment. "What is it."

"I... have cookies." He said, holding out a handful of intact, if a little soggy, shortbread cookies.

Jesse raised an eyebrow at him, leaning down to hide a yawn in her pulled up knees.

"One for me." He said, "One for Olivia," He handed her the baked good with a flourish, making her snort, "One for Jesse."

She accepted the wet treat with a smile, "Thanks, Axel."

Jesse stopped the cookie just short from her lips as Axel paused and gave a quick glimpse at Lukas, tossing the last one next to her.

"And one for Reuben."

The pig scrambled out of her lap and quickly gobbled it down, immediately rolling into his back and passing back out.

"Sorry Lukas, I only have four." He pretended to shrugged helplessly.

"...Oh, no it's all right. I'm not that hungry anyway." He cleared his throat, "I'll just... grab something in the morning... or something."

Jesse looked down at her cookie, guilt settling softly over her chest. Regardless of her opinion of the rest of The Ocelot's, they were Lukas' friends, and he had no clue if they had made it out or not. He had chosen to be here, helping them. She remembered both times she got caught up in the tractor beams. The horrible sensation that covered her body followed by a sense of total dread. She shook her head, not dwelling any further on their fates.

She stood to her feet, her tired and bruised body groaning in protest as she walked around the fire. She stopped just before the blond, holding out her cookie.

"Take it, Lukas."

He looked at her in surprise, before an awkward chuckle escaped him.

"No, no. I... I-I can't do that."

"I insist." She bent down and took hold of his hand, placing the treat in his palm. He looked at her before turning his gaze to the side.

"Thank you, Jesse."

"Sure thing." She grinned tiredly.

"Here, um," He hesitated before breaking the wafer in half, offering it to her. "You shouldn't have to go hungry just because of me."

"It's fine, Lukas." She held a hand up, stepping out of cookie-giving range, "Don't worry about me, I'm not very hungry. Too tired." It wasn't a _complete_ lie.

"Well, If you're sure."

"Very." She gave him a nod, a note of finality in her voice as she walked back to her leaf-mat, moving Reuben who had taken up her spot in his slumber.

"That was for you, Jesse. Not him." Axel said, sitting down next to her with his hands propped up on his crossed legs. She leveled him with an impassive stare, and he turned from her to glare at Lukas.

It was quiet, calm even as all but one of them ate their meager dinner. Jesse blinked through the drowsiness hanging off her like a beckoning blanket, knees pulled close in front of her as she nudged the fire with a stick she had picked up from the pile of backup kindle placed neatly in the corner closest to her. Reuben was on his side, pressed up against her as he snored softly.

She realized her eyes had closed when Olivia's voice broke the uniform silence punctuated only by the crickets.

"If you had to," She said. "Which would you rather fight—a hundred chicken sized zombies, or ten zombie sized chickens?"

Jesse opened her eyes, finding the girl looking at Lukas. A smile crept its way across the shorter girl's face, "Choose wisely."

Lukas laughed under his breath, ignoring Axel who was standing with his arms crossed despite Jesse's attempts to make him sit down and stop being weird. The blond stared into the crumbling embers of the fire.

"Uh… thats a good one. Let me think."

"How can you guys joke at a time like this?" Axel started, looking over them, "Petra is still out there, she's all by herself. There's nothing funny about that."

"Petra wouldn't mind at all. She'd want us to keep our spirits up." Jesse pulled at his hand, signaling again for him to sit down already, but he only moved out of arm's reach, back facing them.

"If I were her, I'd… I dunno. It feels wrong."

"Fine, then uh, we should get some rest. We gotta start looking for this temple as early as we can." Lukas said, standing and brushing away the pine needles that stuck to his jeans and moving to his leaf-mat as he shrugged his jacket off, draping it over his back like a sad little blanket. "Now, my guess is if we start at the portal and kind of split up—"

"What're you doing?" Axel turned to look at him, voice dripping with animosity.

"...Did I do something to you?" Lukas asked, posture changing into a defensive one, "I'd really love to know, because you keep getting on my case for what seems like no reason."

"Okay, let's calm down." Jesse looked between the two, settling on Axel, "He's just trying to help."

"See?" Lukas held his hands out toward her.

"I'm sorry Jesse, I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this guy tellin' us what's what—"

"I'm just trying to get ready for tomorrow." Lukas had crossed his arms, a prominent tone of incridulity seeping into his words.

"You're the only one wearin' that stupid jacket, don't tell us what to do." Axel said mildly.

There was a tense pause before Lukas stepped forward, grinding out every word. _"Take—that—back."_

"Can't. Wouldn't." The taller circled around the campfire to face him despite Jesse and Olivia's annoyed protests. Neither one of them wanted to deal with two bickering boys at what was likely three in the morning.

"You know what? I get to wear this jacket because I know how to build, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to break things."

"Your threats don't scare me now that we know how you really are."

"Jesse your friend is way out of line!" He abruptly whipped around to face the girl whose hands were currently massaging her temples. "I wasn't going to bring it up, but I can only take so much."

"Let's just drop it!" She stood suddenly, moving past a now awake Reuben to push against both their chests

Axel backed up a hair as Olivia moved to stand next to her, looking done and tired enough to absolutely maul one of the two boys.

"Don't be like that, guys—" Axel started.

"Just. _Drop it._" Jesse said definitively, giving them both hard stares.

"This tool—'

"Take is easy, _Axel_." She warned.

"Easy? He threatened me!"

"He's not gonna _do_ anything!" She said to him in disbelief.

Lukas opened his mouth to speak but Axel rounded on him before he could.

"Oh keep your mouth shut. Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" He said, getting in the other's face and shoving him, "Petra might be dead because of you."

"Calm down, Axel!" Olivia grabbed his arm but went ignored.

"I don't have to take this." Lukas looked away, breaking eye contact with him and leaving a smug looking Axel in his wake as he approached Jesse. "Listen, why don't I just leave and let you guys hash this out."

"You can't leave, it's dangerous out there!" Olivia objected.

"I can take care of myself." He said, then raised his voice so Axel would hear his next words, "It's what Axel wants, right?"

"Let him leave if he wants to leave." Axel crossed his arms.

"You're not going anywhere."

"But, Jesse—"

"That's enough!" She snapped, "We're all on the same team now. He's _staying!"_

It was quiet, Axel moving to the opposite side of the hut and sitting down with a huff. Olivia sat as well, followed by Lukas and then Jesse. She moved slowly to her mat, giving them hard looks before turning her gaze to the fire with a long breath.

It was quiet. Olivia was looking between the boys and Jesse was practically glaring into the fire, Axel refusing to look at any of them.

"Zombie sized chickens." Lukas broke the tense silence. "That's what I would fight."

Olivia looked to him, hesitant as Axel turned to him sharply before quickly backing down at Jesse's challenging stare, turning away from her with a harsh sigh.

"Zombie sized chickens," Olivia repeated. "Why's that?"

"Because I'm starving…" He answered weakly, looking into the crackling fire as Jesse reached over to gently place another log over it and snatch her hand back, fingers dancing out of reach from the licking flames. Olivia yawned, leaning back on the palms of her hands as Jesse shifted around onto her side, cushioning her head with a curled arm.

"...I'll take first watch." Axel spoke up, not looking at them.

"Second." Jesse said.

"Third." Olivia followed.

"Fourth, then." Lucas finished off.

Soft breathing was quick to fill the shelter space as Olivia slumbered and Jesse dozed off next to her, the two almost shoved together in the limited area. Jesse couldn't help but linger on how they probably should have tried to make the hut bigger as she tried to keep her eyes open, Olivia breathing into her ear and Reuben snoring against her stomach.

Thunder rolled overhead, tumbling above them through the clouds, spreading out into the night and hailing the promise of rain to the land below. She was nearly lulled to sleep by it before the sound of her name brought her back to her surroundings.

"Stop it, let her sleep." Axel whispered, leaning against the solid wall of the nook they had built into, absently moving the embers of the fire around with the long stick they had designated as the fire stick.

"Sorry, I was just—"

"What is it, Lukas?" She said, voice low with drowsiness.

He looked surprised to see her tired eyes staring across at him were he lay huddled under his jacket.

"...Thanks for keeping me around, Jesse."

"Yeah," She tried to smile despite her drooping eyes, hoping it didn't come out as a grimace. "Of course."

"Quit it." Axel said, nudging her foot with his.

"Quit what?"

"Fraternizing."

She moved her arm from under her to rub her hands down her face, letting out a breath. "Axel, you're my friend and I love you, but please shove it."

He mumbled something Jesse couldn't hear.

"What was that?" She raised her voice a smidge.

"Nothing!" He whined, jabbing roughly at a burning log.

She sighed, bringing her arm back underneath her head. Thunder rumbled, followed by small drops of rain that fell through the smoke vent, sizzling over the heated wood of the fire. a few drops grew into several drips which grew into a steady downpour of rain.

"Think it'll hold?" Axel asked quietly, looking up at the ceiling of their dirt and stick shelter.

"It should, yeah," Jesse answered, eyes closed as she let the monotonous sound of the falling rain, interrupted only by soft rumbles of thunder, drift her off. "With Lukas' roof, I think we're good."

"Yeah. We should be fine, I think." Lukas chimed in.

"That was… it was good. Your idea. The rainproof thing." Axel cleared his throat, not looking up from the fire.

Jesse smiled a little to herself as Lukas replied, voice unsure. "Oh, um. Thanks, Axel."

"Yeah, well don't expect anything else from me." He grumbled.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said.

"You guys," Olivia spoke, voice muffled from where her face lay in her arms. "Shut up."

"Sorry, 'Liv." Axel said, placing the fire stick down and crossing his legs once more.

She mumbled something indiscernible, turning into her other side so her back faced them.

Jesse drifted into consciousness and then back out. The world was a blur, and random images seemed to float aimlessly around in the pool of her thoughts. Hair from a shifting Olivia tickled her nose momentarily, bringing her back to the outside world, but after a second she was once again lost. Her hand found its way to the amulet that had fallen out from the inside of her overalls. She could feel an overbearingly dark presence trying to look at her, staring her dead in the eye with a single, bright light, but she couldn't keep focus. The whole world simply felt low resolution, a bad quality photograph. Confusion blossomed in her chest at the heavy feeling that had slipped over her like a weighted blanket as she fingered the necklace. She knew that sooner or later she would need to fully wake up. To stare reality in the face. But for now, she lay, body heavy, and retreated into wallowing blackness.

Her watch came and passed without incident. And it felt like only minutes had passed before she found herself being shaken from a dreamless sleep.

"Up, Jesse. Let's go." Olivia's voice sounded amplified as Jesse groaned loudly, turning onto her side as the sunlight from the open door attempted to blind her. A cold snout pressed against her neck and she shot up, glaring blearily at Reuben who was chewing through a mouthful of rain-wet grass ripped from the ground outside and looking up at her innocently..

Axel ducked through the doorway with a large cupped leaf, pouring water over the smoldering embers that hissed loudly and filled the hut with smoke.

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" He called cheerfully.

She coughed, waving the air in front of her as she stumbled from the shelter and out into the early sun. She dramatically fell to her hands and knees, uncaring of the wet grass soaking through her pants.

"Why couldn't you morning _heathens_ have waited until I was fully awake to start the day?"

"You wouldn't get up," Olivia said, passing her. "Now come on, I'm heading down to the portal to wash off. We both smell like smoke and I don't even wanna think about the layers of sweat and grime covering us."

"It's cold though!" She whined.

"Good, It'll wake us up then."

"You're already awake, you're just doing this to be mean to me."

"Trust me, I'm exactly seventy-eight percent asleep right now. I just know how to hide it." She said, flashing her a dull look before turning and walking down a long slope. "Come on, Jesse. You too, Reuben!"

Jesse ambled after her, suppressing a yawn and already missing the warmth of the hut. They made it to a stream leading into the pond by the portal. Stepping through a thick wall of trees and brush, the two settling on its banks. Jesse looked into the water, reflection barely visible aside from the copious amounts of hair sticking every which way. Pulling her lips into a thin line, she brought her hands up and ran her fingers through the wild locks that had fallen out of her braid and hung around her face, grimacing at the greasy strands that smelled of campfire smoke. She had gone to sleep with her baldric strapped to her and was regretting it immensely with how her back ached. Combined with the already present pain from running through the woods with a heavy pack on, being tossed around like a ragdoll by the Wither, and sleeping on hard ground, she currently wanted to die.

"Here." She heard Olivia say, looking in time to catch her ripping her old shirt down the middle and tossing her a half. "This thing has run its course, I think. Might as well use it one last time."

She tiredly thanked her, leaning further over the water and dunking the yellow cloth in, scrubbing it between her hands to remove any and all grime before wringing it out and slapping it down on a rock. Olvia had already abandoned her vest, boots unlaced and kicked off, and pants rolled up as she stepped calf-deep into the running water. She was cupping her hands under the surface and bringing them up to her lips, gulping down the cold liquid.

"Wouldn't it be better to do this at the portal? Didn't you say that's where we were going?"

"The portals loud." She said between breaths, dropping her hands and proceeding to submerge her half of the shirt and washing it clean. She brought it to her dirt smudged face with a sigh. "It's probably freezing down there in the shade too. Here we at least have some sun."

Jesse simply nodded, too tired to argue as she doused the cloth once more and began wiping her dirty cheeks, furiously rubbing over her sweat-dried, oily face.

Watching Olivia move her goggles down to hang around her neck and toss her hat off, Jesse pulled apart her wild braid and shook her hands through the now wavy locks, setting her clip down over Olivia's hat. Moving to her knees, she took a breath and plunged her head into the chilled water with only a moment's hesitation, scrubbing the tips of her fingers over her scalp. She resurfaced at the sound of Axel's voice, squeezing her dark hair out and shaking water from her face, the cold shocking her systems awake.

"Is it safe to come out?"

"Yes, Axel. You are safe," Olivia called as she tied her hair back into a low bun. "You really think we'd strip in this kind of weather?"

"Well I don't know!" He emerged from the trees, green jacket pulled over his body and holding a fat leaf close to his chest. "Got a surprise for you guys."

"And what's that?" Olivia made her way to the shore, legs splashing through the water.

"Tada!" He opened the leaf, presenting a cluster of bright red berries to them.

"Buffaloberries!" Jesse cried out with a smile.

"Fresh from the bush." Axel approached them, sitting down and setting the berries in front of him.

"This is perfect, Axel!" She pivoted on the ground to stretch over and grab a handful, tossing a few of the tart fruit into her mouth. She crushed the rest in her other hand, shimmying out of her overalls and kicking them to the side, running back to the stream. "Oh, we are going to be so clean."

Jesse lightly dipped the berries into the water, pushing up her shirt sleeves and lathering up her skin with the steadily growing soap-like foam.

Once all of them thoroughly cleaned, including Axel after Jesse threatened to kick him into the stream and Reuben who had found his way to them covered in dirt, they sat under the warming sun eating the remainder of the berries.

She winced as she bumped the shell of her ear whole combing her hair back with her fingers, clipping it away from her face as her blistered toes weaved into the cool grass, bandages discarded.

"How's your ear doing?" Olivia asked, leaning back on a hand.

"It's been better." She said. "And more whole."

Reuben rubbed up against her with a low snort, looking guilty.

"It's not your fault, bud. I'd rather have a small chip in my ear than you."

"We should'a come with you." Axel looked to the side.

"Oh, stop it." Jesse scowled. "Listen, everything turned out fine didn't it?"

"If your definition of _'fine'_ is the entirety of Beacontown being destroyed, then sure." The other girl commented.

"You know what I mean, Olivia."

"Hey, I'm just saying. Nothing's really going well. I mean, Lukas had the right idea by leaving."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"He got up and left sometime during his watch last night."

"Lukas left...?" Jesse asked weakly, noticing for the first time that morning the absence of the blonde. "What?"

"He was gone when we woke up." Olivia shrugged. "I thought you'd noticed."

"Coward just up and left while we were all asleep."

"Well, he was there when my watch ended." Olivia said. "He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to flake out on that, so he probably hasn't been gone long."

"Your point being?"

"Her point being that maybe he's just off somewhere." Jesse cut in.

"Not actually my point, but close enough."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Jess, just because some guy likes you doesn't mean you're obliged to stick up for him."

"What are you even talking about, Axel," Jesse gave him a blasé look. "Of course he likes me, we're like friends now or whatever."

"What am I talking about? What are you talking about? And what sort of friend," He help up quotation marks with his fingers, "Totally ditches on you?"

"You don't know that he ditched."

"Oh yes I do. Some friend you got there, huh Jesse?"

"Hey… guys…"

They all turned to an awkward looking lukas who was rubbing an arm, not meeting their gazes. Reuben squealed and ran up to him, circling around his legs with happy little oinks.

"Well hi there, Lukas!" Jesse smiled and waved at him, side-eyeing Axel with a smug look as she stood with Olivia.

"Yeah… Hey, I um… I picked some apples." He cleared his throat, giving Reuben a pet. "You guys more than welcome to some if you want. Y'know, feel free, there's enough for all of us"

He smiled a little at the pig bumping his head against him, gently brushing him away with a few words and approaching the group, extending an apple to Jesse. A grin overtook her features as she took the offered fruit from him.

"Thanks, Lukas."

"You got up early and found an apple tree? That still had apples?" Olivia look surprised, accepting one of the small apples from him as well.

"I figure we have to eat." He shrugged, attempting to hand one to Axel. "I like to get an early start."

"While I'm sure we all sincerely appreciate the effort," Axel pushed away the other's hand, a contemptuous smile on his face as he stood. "I already got us breakfast."

_"Axel."_ Jesse said.

"A handful of berries isn't breakfast." Olivia said around the bits of apple in her mouth, shaking her head at him with an exasperated roll of her eyes

"Think of it as an… additional meal then." Lukas tried, leaning down and placing an apple in front of Reuben who tore into it with the gusto of a man on the brink of starvation.

Lukas once again offered Axel the fruit, who paused before snatching it from his hand with a grumbled, "Thanks."

"I thought you left." Jesse said, swallowing.

"Yeah. Me too." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. It was Axel's turn to give her a smug grin, bumping her shoulder. She bumped him back with a glare, nearly knocking him over.

"I tried to do some thinking, but it was too cold without the fire. And then it started raining again." He laughed to himself mirthlessly.

Olivia gave a grinning Axel a glare as well, elbowing him in the ribs with a look that said _this is your doing._

Lukas noticed, and waved his hand a little in a dismissive manner. "No, it's all right. It's just—It's been a long night. And morning."

Axel snorted. He was elbowed again.

"I'm resourceful, you know. People always say that." He started, then turned to look at Jesse. "And I am a good friend."

He shot Axel a look, who merely crossed his arms. "Most of the time, I'm a good friend. Now, yesterday, I wasn't at my best for one second, and it's suddenly like none of that even matters. It's like I'm the worst person to exist. You guys can think what you want of me, but one thing still matters; Petra still needs us. I let her down once. It won't happen again."

"Hey," Jesse said, punching his shoulder. "You're cool with me, Lukas."

He smiled, rubbing where she hit him. "Thanks, Jesse."

"You know what? Me too." Olivia added, giving him a half grin as she set her hands on her hips.

Axel released a long breath, kicking a rock in front of him. "If you're all right with them, then I guess I can live with it."

"Okay. I'll take that." Lukas shrugged, his lips quirking up ever so slightly.

"We're all on the same team. We have to help each other." Jesse smiled, looking between Axel and Olivia before settling on Lukas.

"I'm glad we're on the same page. Thank you, Jesse."

"You don't need to keep saying thanks to her." Axel said.

"I could be wrong, but I think that's none of your business."

"Quit it you two." Jesse said, beckoning Reuben to her side, tossing him her apple core when he kicked his front legs up onto her thigh and snapped at it. "Jeez, Reuben. Just ask next time."

Brushing at the dirt-covered prints his hooves had left on her, she looked around, "All right, let's get going team."

* * *

sorry again this was probably boring lmao. ill try to come back and spice it up hopefully along with editing it more thoroughly. review and lmk of any glaring mistakes i missed!


	8. Chapter 8

im so sorry i took so long. But i wasnt completely doing nothing since the last update, ive been editing past chapters bc therye like….kinda bad lol. Lots of grammar mistakes and repeated words and there were some chapter where all the italics had been removed. I cant do much to fix the over all bad quality of them but you know im trying lmao. Chapter six was especially horrendous and im so sorry you guys had to sludge thru that mess.

I started this a while ago and just now finished it, so if the style or pacing or anything changes about 4k words in thats why lol

And im gonna be real here, i know there have been lukjess moments throughout this series and i havent been acknowledging them despite saying that pairings were up for grabs, but they are i promise. Lukjess just has some backing because i already think its cute. So i apologize for all the times that i have and will write hints of lukjess.

Sorry this is so short. this is the shortest chapter so far by about 100 words. The chapters might shorten permanently from here on out. Maybe. Im not sure yet, i'll just have to see how it goes and if i can get back into the swing of things.

* * *

From the pool of shadows that bathed Jesse's aching feet, she knew it was midday. This late in the fall, the sun has lost its intensity, leaving patches of cool ground across shadows left by overarching trees and steep, short rocksides that grew in abundance the higher they travelled.

Lukas had been trailing behind the group from the very start, seeming unwilling to join them as they trekked ahead.

Entering a rocky meadow, Jesse slowed her throbbing feet, lagging behind Axel and Olivia who were deep in conversation so she walked with Lukas. She'd been holding an exhausted Reuben for what felt like hours now, but ignored her protesting arms. She and Lukascarried on in silence, Jesse looking at him expectantly as he looked back at her with equal expectancy.

Jesse finally rolled her eyes in a not unkind manner.

"You doing okay?" She asked, nudging his arm with her own.

"It was a rough night." He said after a pause.

"It happens. We were all tired, and—" She adjusted Reuben, who was curled up into a tight ball. "Well, I guess I'm just glad you're okay. I'm sorry about all that business last night."

"Honestly I'm just—I'm more embarrassed than anything else." He rubbed the back of his head laughing a little, though it was weak and forced, "Thanks again for being so cool about this. I know I'm being more tolerated than actually accepted."

"Hey, if Olivia says she's down with someone, she's down with them. You would know if she were just tolerating you."

Lukas cast glances between Axel, the ground in front of him, and her with hardly an ounce of subtlety. Jesse sighed through her nose.

"Listen, don't worry. Axel will get over it."

"But still, the way it all went down—wasn't cool."

"Give it time," She offered a reassuring smile, "He'll come around."

"...thanks, Jesse." He said. "Again, for—being so cool about this. Sorry, I'm repeating myself a lot, aren't I?"

Moving Reuben to one arm, she waved him off, "It's cool."

Meadow turned to forest, and forest turned to an impenetrable thicket of tangled mass as they continued forward, Jesse now leading. The trees grew so thickly that there was no undergrowth at all. Around their feet were only the browned remnants of branches and pine needles that had fallen in the recent rain. If there was a path there, they couldn't see it, so instead they wound their way through the trunks that grew tall, racing for their share of the sun's rays. They were so thickly clumped together in places that the group had to alter their path or risk becoming wedged between two trees.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Olivia asked, tripping over a root and catching herself on a low hanging branch. "Because this doesn't seem like the right way!"

"We've searched the whole lower mountain side, all there's left to do is go up." Jesse said, helping her to her feet, "If you have a better idea, I would love to hear it, because I literally hate this so much."

She felt closed in on all sides, swatting at hanging vines and hopping over impossibly large roots. They had been twisting and turning through the massive jungle for so long that she had no idea if they were even going straight anymore. Everything looked the same. She wondered absently if the others knew this as well, or if they were keeping track of where they were going, or if they were all just blindly trusting her.

Her hands were sweating, and she wished she were still holding onto Reuben and had not handed him off to Axel. Her breaths were coming to her faster, and she struggled to keep them under control so as to not draw attention to herself from the others.

Sucking in then letting out a breath, she shook herself and walked forwards with purpose, selecting a fat tree with low hanging branches. She discarded her dirty shoes and tested her weight on the lowest limb, nodding to herself that the wood was healthy enough at the bottom and wouldn't taper off in quality halfway up.

"What are you doing?" Axel asked, mildly alarmed.

She turned to look at him, "Going up."

And with that she pulled herself up and began her ascent. Her calloused hands gripped the bark easily. The branches were almost _too_ thick. She tested slimmer looking ones every now and then by pushing her weight against them with her feet. Jesse made it to the very top, pulling a few twigs from her hair and taking a moment to revel in the frigid breeze that made the tall tree creak and sway. Breathing in deeply, she let the wide expanse of the sky shed her previous anxiety from her. Holding a hand over her eyes, squinting through the sun her eyes had yet to adjust to, she searched the landscape. In every direction there was only a sea of treetops, the rising cusp of the mountain the only visible thing. Her heart began to sink into a pool of freezing water before she caught the relieving sight of clearing in the mass of vegetation. She reluctantly picked her way back down with careful ease, letting herself fall past the last few branches and landing on the ground.

"See anything?" Lukas asked.

"Yeah, a clearing just ahead." She said, wiping off the souls of her feet and tugging her boots back on

"Oh, thank the stars." Olivia groaned, "If I had to spend one more hour surrounded by trees was going to lose it and one of you was going to be dead."

"Same." Jesse sighed, "_Same."_

They continued onward, Jesse paying close attention to where they were facing at all times, unwilling to risk losing sight of the clearing's direction. Their environment slowed their progression down considerably compared to if they were simply walking through a field, and it took long enough to reach their destination they thought they had managed to pass it.

"Hey!" Lukas abruptly yelled from behind Jesse, scaring her out of her skin, "There's something over that way!"

"What is it? The clearing?" Olivia asked.

"No, no, it's some kind of… building I think."

"Let's get a closer look." Jesse said, "I mean, we were headed there anyway. Like, the building is probably synonymous with the clearing. But—you know what I mean."

They hurried around thickly barked trunks, under arching roots, and through curtains of vines. Jesse could see the reflection of what looked like stained glass reflecting the sun off it and quickened her pace as much as she could in the crowded forest. They broke out into the clearing and were nearly blinded by the sun.

The trees around them were veiled in the lightest of mists, their trunks sombre brown with sable cracks that gnarl the bark. As Jesse's vision once again adjusted, her eyes traveled to the edge of the woodland that became bright, sunlit silhouettes against, as if it were only daylight where they stood, like they were encircled by twilight. Before them stood a massive, dilapidated building with columns of quartz and a canopy of tangled, swaying vines hanging from a tall crumbling roof that sunbeams shone through. A weighty looking wall of stained glass connected at the top of the building between two pillars, casting colors across the ground.

"What is this place?" Axel set Reuben down, looking over the structure.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. I guess." Olivia said, parting vines as they walked across carpet-like moss covering cracked stone brick.

"It's the temple…" Lukas spoke, voice echoing softly the closer they came to the gaping entrance.

"Lukas, are you sure?" Olivia sounded doubtful.

Jesse squinted up at the stained glass, moving away from the colors that shone over the ground and ushering the others to do the same. She reached into her shirt, taking out the amulet and compared it to the design, closing one eye to better imagine the stretched casting of colors as the circle they depicted on the glass.

She opened her eye. "He's right! Look…" She circled around until they could fully look at the glass without the sun's reflection blinding them, and held up the necklace in comparison.

"Hoooly crap…" Axel said, craning his neck back.

"Think anyone's home?" Olivia asked, pulling a distracted Lukas along as he marveled at their surroundings.

"Let's go in and find out." Axel set Reuben down, who immediately took off to take in the new smells.

"Stay close, bud!" Jesse called, receiving a short oink in reply.

Through the tall entrance, they entered into a short tunnel that wasn't nearly as high as Axel was tall, leaving him to stoop into the darkness, one hand on the mildewed tiles. Lukas banged his head more than a few times on low arches carved into the rock every five feet or so, leaving Olivia snickering at the both of them. They emerged into a tall hallway, the ceiling dark enough that it could have ended either a few feet from the light of the torches or hundreds. Jesse experimentally threw a rock upwards, sighing in relief as it hit the unseen ceiling relatively quickly. The spiderwebs had everyone on edge as Jesse ignited burnt out torches while they walked, handing one to Axel who held it high above them, nervously inspecting the webs that overtook the space above their heads. None of them wanted to deal with giant spiders at the moment.

The temperature dropped the farther they travelled. The stones bricking them in fit together like an oversized jigsaw puzzle. They were cold and smooth underneath Jesse's hand. Light reached neither wall nor ceiling ahead of them, confining their vision to a small circle of flickering orange cast by the torch in Axel's hand and the torches along the wall slowly sparking to live with the flint and steel.

"I don't have a great feeling about this." Lukas said, tracing fingers over patterns carved into the stones as they passed them.

"Let's just all be careful." Jesse warned, giving a shaky Reuben a comforting pat. "If you spot anything, call it out. I get the feeling we don't have a lot of time."

"Isn't it weird how dispensers are carved to look like spooky little faces." Axel noted.

"I think they look like frogs." Jesse commented lightly, smiling at the row of dusty dispenser blocks placed in small V patterns across the wall.

"It's like, 'what do you dispense, little guy?' You know?"

"I feel like we don't really want to find out." Olivia said.

An abrupt clunking noise had them freezing midstep.

"Get behind me!" Jesse hissed, reaching her arm over to place her hand on the hilt of her sword.

Slowly peeking around a corner, she examined a significantly wider hallway lit with cracked glowstone lamps on the walls. She beckoned the others forwards, stepping out into the light.

Approaching, they stopped in their tracks from what sounded like gears and cranks behind the walls. It stopped with a loud noise reminiscent of something metal clicking into place, startling an already panicked Reuben who squealed shrilly and bolted forwards.

"Reuben, no!" Jesse yelled, running after him. She felt her blood run cold as they stepped over a section of floor that sank beneath them, a pressure plate. They all skidded to a halt when bars came crashing down behind them, locking them in.

"What was that?!" Lukas cried.

"That's probably not a good thing." Axel observed mildly, like he was commenting on the weather.

Jesse's blood went cold as she looked down the hallway loaded to the teeth with dispensers, hearing them arm themselves with what were likely arrows.

"Run!" She shouted, pushing them forwards and kicking off in a race to outrun the redstone pressed stealthily into swirling designs engraved in the stone above, setting off the dispensers one by one behind them, arrows flying.

With each footfall, a jarring pain shoots from Jesse's ankle to knee, her sore muscles crying out in protest as her feet slam against the stone beneath her. Her boots slipped over the mildewy floors and she almost tumbled over, Olivia grabbing her in time and the two of them running with hands interlocked as they both helped the other from lagging behind or tripping. Reuben was bouncing in Lukas' arms and practically shrieking with each arrow that fired off closer and closer to them. They slid into a short section devoid of any dispenser, stepping over another wide pressure plate and activating more ahead of them. Jesse groaned, wiping the nervous sweat from her forehead, exhausted from the sprint. Her legs felt like they were spilling out from beneath her as she sagged against the wall, feeling very much like an old lady.

"And we're trapped." She said tartly.

"We activated the dispensers with that pressure plate." Lukas placed a shaking Reuben down who ran to Jesse and pressed against her leg. "If we can figure out a way to trigger the same one again, I bet that'll shut them off."

"It's worth a shot." Olivia said from beside Axel, "We just need to find a way to set it off."

"Look, there's a crafting table. Maybe we can make something useful."

"Out of what?" Axel asked sardonically. "We don't have anything."

"He's right too." Olivia sighed. "All of our tools and materials are back home, assuming our home is even still standing."

Jesse held her chin in thought. "All right. Everyone, empty your inventories. Let's see what we've got to work with."

"I have sticks left over from building the shelter last night." Lukas said, peering into his inventory and shuffling around its contents, "And an apple. Well, half an apple."

"I've got some flint and... " Olivia dug her hand inside her pocket, "...and… a piece of string."

"All I have are some chicken feathers my inventory picked up after that chicken machine exploded." Axel shrugged.

"Let's see." Jesse opened her inventory in front of her. "Well, I obviously have some flint and steel, my sword, and in here I've got a jar of pine resin and… oh, and some web from a spider Petra killed in the woods."

"String, sticks, flint and feathers." Olivia listed off, looking over the meager pile of crafting material they have.

She hurriedly set out the ingredients for a bow, testing the sticks Lukas handed her until she found a smooth, semi-rigid yet flexible one, setting it over the table with the string as the ingredients shook. The web and string twined together into a high-tensile bowstring and latched onto both limbs of the stick, pulling tight until it was a curved, elastic arc. She set it aside, placing the flint, sticks, and feathers down. They surged together and a bundle of arrows rolled out across the surface of the gridded table.

Jesse unceremoniously threw all but one arrow into her inventory, picking up the bow.

She knocked the arrow, pulling it back on the string a few times to adjust to the feeling the bow. "All right, let's do this."

After a moment of lining up, she loosed the arrow. It hit its target, thunking into the wooden pressure plate and pressing the section of floor down. The dispensers ceased, and she grinned, looking back at the others.

"Good job, Jess." Olivia patted her shoulder

"Yeah-hah, nice!" Axel commended. "The No-Names' luck is changing."

Jesse leaned against the crafting table with a whooshing breath, massaging her cramping calf. "Don't jinx it, Axel."

"Doing all right?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Jesse said, pushing off the dusty surface, making the mistake of slightly limping when her muscles tightened up again. She growled in annoyance and stomped her foot against the ground until it subsided, wincing when her thin throbbed.

"Um, you most definitely are not. Come here."

"I said I'm fine!" She whined, moving out of the other girl's reach, not expecting to be tackled by her.

"Hey!" She yelled.

Olivia just roughly pulled her pant leg up, sliding the red pants beneath it up her shin and gasping like an angry mother. Bruises littered the skin in large purple and yellow blotches. She pulled the denim up further despite Jesse protests and reveals her abused kneecap "Jesse!"

"What!" She yelled back, mimicking her tone as exasperation laced her features. "It's fine! They're just bruises!"

Lukas picked up her leg to view the damage, Jesse immediately smacking his hands away, roughly yanking her pant legs down "Hey, hands off pal!"

He snapped his hands away, ears turning a dark red as he held his palms up defensively.

"You should have told us!" Olivia scowled, standing.

"Oh you're one to talk." She pushed the other girls pants up, revealing a myriad of bruises. "You don't think I saw your legs when we were cleaning off at the river?"

"That's different." Olivia jerked her leg away from her.

"_How?"_ She shook her head in disbelief at her, eyes narrowed. "Literally _how_ is it any different!"

"Because I'm me and you're you!"

"And? What does that have to do with anything at all?" Jesse asked incredulously, pushing off from the gridded table and crossing her arms.

"You're basically the leader here, Jesse."

"Oh, I am not." She rolled her eyes. The others stayed quiet and Olivia only raised an eyebrow at her. She paused, then blanched. "Oh no. I am the leader, aren't I?"

"What did you think you were?" Olivia hissed at her.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe, you guys' friend?"

"You can be our friend and still be the leader, Jesse." Axel said, quickly shutting his mouth at the look Olivia gave him.

"If I can just say something…"

Olvia sighed. "What, Lukas?"

"Well, as someone who was a 'leader', you don't have to be one in the sense that you have total authority over any of us. I mean you _sort of_ do, but in a necessary way. Just—okay, just think of it like being the suggestion person. You're not in charge of all of our lives. You just happen to have the best set of skills for certain things we'll probably be faced with." He cleared his throat, releasing his next words in a single breath, "And also Gabriel chose you but that's more of a footnote."

"No, everyone here has good skills we've needed and _will_ need in the future. And Gabriel didn't choose me, he just gave me… the amulet…" she was quiet for a moment. "Okay, so he chose me, but that doesnt make me some prophesied chosen one. I'm still just me, I'm Jesse. I'm Jesse before anything else."

"How about this." Olivia began, "You're Jesse, but you're also part-time suggestion person and tiebreaker. That last one won't even be new, you've always been the tiebreaker."

Jesse sighed. "All right, whatever. I'm me first, and quasi-leader second."

"See? That wasn't so hard."

"That was actually excruciating." She muttered.

"Don't be so dramatic. Let's just go miss not-leader."

"Shut up, Olivia." Jesse said.

They made their way down the hallway, the soft stone of the walls cracking with embedded arrows and crumbling to the ground occasionally, echoing to the ceiling. Entering a room of wood and sandstone carved with the faces of creepers, Jesse hopped up a short flight of stairs two steps at a time, squinting in the low light of the meager redstone blocks lighting the area. A second flight of stairs later they found themselves in a decrepit library of sorts lit once more with glowstone. Slick spiderwebs caught the light and shone like cracked glass. A wall of books bisected the space with an archway in the middle centered with a dusty podium occupied by an even dustier book.

"This… must be their enchantment room." Lukas said, wiping off a spine of a nearby book and reading the gold lettering.

"More like was." Olivia commented, looking unimpressed by the countless books and grand ceiling. "This place reeks of mildew. It's worse than ivor's little book basement."

"It does look like his creepy basement, doesn't it?" Axel said thoughtfully, looking around as the group dispersed from the doorway to look around.

Lukas took no time in collecting a short stack of books and ballanding it in his hands as he riffled through the expansive library. Jesse approached him, eyeing his small but growing tower of books as he set the volumes down with a 'hup' and delicately opened the thickest tome, the paper feathery and dotted with mold specks.

"Find something useful already?"

"Um, I don't know about _useful_... but there is a _lot_ of history in this room. Here check this out." He motioned her towards him.

She looked over his shoulder at the book on his knee, reading from the page he had opened.

"The battle was fierce, but the Order of the stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and ensuring that peace and prosperity would reign forever."

"Well, not exactly forever." Lukas commented, turning the page for her. A Rendition of five figures had been drawn, two of which Jesse recognized.

"These five members, five friends, together would give so much to gain their rightful place as five heroes. They would author their own end. They would slay a dragon." She stopped, finally asking the question that was on the tip of everyone's tongues.

"Is that… Ivor?"

"Ivor was a member of the order of the stone!" Olivia, who had come up behind them with Axel, exclaimed, nearly grabbing the book from Lukas. She was shaking her head, looking at the drawing. "The stories never mentioned him…!"

"This is… crazy." Lukas said, flipping back through the pages.

"It's like… they erased him. There must be a reason he's never been mentioned." Jesse said, looking to Olivia. "Maybe he was different back then."

"Maybe they kicked them out." Axel shrugged.

"They cut him out of the story." Olivia voiced with realization.

"this could explain why Ivor had such a grudge against Gabriel." Jesse said.

"They lied to us, they lied to the whole world! What could be so important that they couldn't tell anyone about Ivor?" Olivia was pacing.

"She's got a point, what's their reason? Like why would they even do this to begin with?" Axel said before a smile broke over his face and he snorted "Man, I can't believe you yelled at a member of the Order of the Stone like that, Jesse."

"I didn't _know!"_

"Still, it's funny."

"I don't think it's very funny," said Lukas.

"Whatever, guys. The order might not be what we thought they were, but Petra is still out there. That monster is still out there."

"Jesse's right, we need to focus on what we came here to do." Lukas agreed, looking up from the book as he slid it from his lap and closed it.

"Hey, where do you think these stairs go?" Olivia had wandered from the group and was peering up a set of narrow sandstone stairs.

"They go up." Axel provided helpfully as they converged around the girl who squinted her eyes at him.

"Hopefully somewhere safe. Let's check it out." Jesse said, already halfway up the stairs.

"Hold on, wait for us!" Olivia yelled, kicking up dust as she hurried to match Jesse's pace, the boys following behind with Reuben.

A breeze hit Jesse as she reached the peak of the stairs, nearly falling over when Olivia came crashing into her from behind. Around them was a crumbling room of stone pillars encrusted with gold and decrepit walls caging long frames of cracked glass along the top of the ceiling. The sun cast eerie shadows that stretched across the dusty floor and shone through the strips of shattered glass making for spiderweb patterns that projected themselves over a scaling map pressed against one of the few intact sections of wall.

"Woah." Olivia beathed, craning her neck around the massive room.

Axel's voice rang from the stairs, growing louder. "You guys can't just do that you know. I've got weak old man bones, I'm not a spry as you two. Lukas is the same and he agrees."

"No I'm not and no I don't." Lukas responded from somewhere behind him. "You're not even old, I'm pretty sure we're the same age actually."

"Listen, it's nothing to be ashamed of, I—oh wow, this is so cool." Axel's wide frame came up behind the girls.

Lukas followed shortly, emerging from the stairwell with a look of wonder.

"What happened to the walls?" Axel voiced as he wandered towards the gaping hole to the outside, looking down.

"More like what happened to this whole place." Jesse said, eyes on the ground and she walked across shards of glass that ground against each other beneath her heel.

"This must have been where they met!" Olivia turned to Jesse.

"So… where are they, then?" Axel asked, looking around like he would find the answer right there.

Jesse rubbed her chin. "Gabriel said that once we find the temple, the amulet would lead us to the Order of the Stone."

"Well what're you waiting for, pull it out then." Axel walked up and nudged her.

She pulled the necklace out from the front of her overalls, taking it off from around her neck and holding it up with an expecting grin. They all stood in silence, waiting with similar expressions. A good ten seconds passed as they all looked at the amulet like morons.

"Is… something supposed to happen?" Olivia asked slowly, breaking the silence.

"Well that was a let down." Axel mumbled.

Jesse lowered her arm and held the amulet upright in her palm, scrutinizing it.

"There's got to be something we're missing. Look around and see if you can find anything."

"You got it Jesse." Olivia affirmed.

The group split up, each going in their own directions. Jesse found herself gravitating towards the old map spread out across the wall, the edges of it curling in its old age. On either side of it were stacks of colored glass, strangely untouched and whole unlike the broken glass littering the floor. She felt Reuben come up behind her, leaning against the side of her leg.

"Reuben, check this out. It's a map of the entire world." She said in wonderment. Staring a bit longer, she rested her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes, "This is way nicer than the one at EnderCon."

Reuben pushed his cold snout against her exposed ankle, making a warbling noise.

"Right, right, sorry. Got distracted." She held her hands up defensively.

"If you need a better distraction, I found something that might be useful," Lukas peeked out above a large book from where he sat in front of the map.

"Lay it on me." Jesse smiled, moving to sit next to him. He cleared his throat.

"Well, the amulet was used to track the positions of the members of the order." He said matter-of-factly, looking to her and matching her grin.

Jesse waited for him to continue, but he only continued to look at her, smile still in place.

"Aaand… does it mention… how?"

"Oh! Right, uh," The tips of his ears had flushed pink, "Right, sorry. Um, it's less technical and, well, more historical."

She looked at him blankly. "...Meaning?"

"Meaning they have records of using the amulet this way, but don't say how."

"Ah."

"Yeah. Sorry if this wasn't much help, but at least it's something." He shrugged with a sheepish looking quirk of his lips.

"You're tight, It _was_ something, and thank you for sharing it with me." She punched his arm amicably. "Don't be so quick to discredit yourself, Lukas."

"Right, sorry," He laughed a little.

"And don't say sorry!"

"Sorry—I mean, okay."

She shook her head at him in amusement, pushing herself up from her seat. Her attention was caught by Olivia, who was carefully brushing glass away from the ground so she could lean down on her knees and inspect a carving in the sandstone of a pedestal.

"Hey, find anything?"

Olivia either didn't hear her or didn't care enough to answer, instead running her hand over the runes and looking to her, her eyes shining with unbridled glee.

"We're in the temple of the Order of the Stone!"

"Uh, yep. Did it only just hit you that we're even here?"

Olivia wasn't deterred by her sarcastic reply, "I mean, the Order's _actual_ temple!"

She placed a hand on one of her knees and stood up, looking to Jesse with a small smile, "Who'd've thought it, huh? A bunch of small towners like us wrapped up in an adventure like this."

"Yeah, it's pretty insane." Jesse said, fiddling with the amulet in her hand, "I just hope we all come out the other side in one piece."

"Of course we will. I mean maybe not _you_ specifically, but, you know."

Jesse laughed, shoving her shoulder, "Shut up!"

Olivia grinned, pretending to rub her shoulder. Her smile fell a bit, and she stepped in closer, whispering conspiratorially to her.

"Hey, would you check on Axel? He suddenly seems kind of…"

They both looked to the larger boy, who was throwing bits of broken stone out through the gaping, crumbled walls, muttering to himself.

"...upset."

"Whats got him riled up so fast?" Jesse asked.

Olivia shrugged wordlessly, making an '_I dunno' _type of sound.

"I'm on it." Jesse squeezed her shoulder, earning a smile from Olivia.

"Thanks, Jess."

She approached Axel, reaching up on her tip-toes to tap his arm. He looked down to her, then crossed his arms and turned away.

Undiscouraged, She leaned around him to try and see his face. "Watcha lookin' at?"

"Nothing, whatever!"

"_Axel."_

"It's nothing." He whined, rolling the rock he was about to throw between his hands.

"It doesn't seem like nothing." She said.

He looked to her, and she held her hands behind her back, kicking at the ground and giving him her best sullen expression.

"...Alright fine!" He sighed in defeat, "Just quit with that, would you? I'm not gonna look at you or even talk to you until you've promised you stopped."

She smiled brightly to herself, shifting her stance back into a normal one. "Okay, okay, I've stopped."

He turned his head ever so slightly to peek at her to see if she was lying. When he was sure the sad puppy routine was over and done with, he turned around.

"...I'm just trying to think of where Petra might be." He mumbled, "I mean I know she's gonna be fine, but I'm still worried. I'm a caring guy, alright?"

"I know you are. And we're gonna find her. Or she's gonna find us. Probably the latter now that I think about it." She bumped him with her shoulder, "My point is, everythings going to turn out fine, I know it."

"If you say so."

"I know so." She gave him a sound pat on the arm. "Your big heart is gonna be the death of you someday."

"Don't make me blush." He pretended to hold his cheek bashfully, making Jesse snicker.

She glanced behind them to catch Olivia's gaze, giving the other girl a thumbs up from behind her and Axel's backs.

"Now if we're done being buddy-buddy," Axel caught her attention back with a flick to the nose, "I think we were in the middle of investigating. And I think I might have found something earlier."

"Oh yeah? What is it?" She asked.

"Give me the amulet." He said, throwing his rock to the side.

She hesitated, looking between the amulet and Axel.

"Well? Hand it over."

She slowly placed the necklace into Axel's waiting hand, "All right, just be careful with it."

"Yeah, yeah." He led her over to the sandstone pedestal Olivia was still investigating the base of. "Now check this out."

He reached up, amulet in hand, and carefully wedged it between the sandstone base and the wooden frames sprouting up on either side of it, converging in the middle where the amulet now was.

"See? Like a glove." He proudly placed his hands on his hips.

Jesse stretched up on her tip-toes to test and see if it actually did fit like a glove and wasn't just precariously balancing between the sandstone and wood. Sure enough, it was stable and fit between the two perfectly.

"Wow Axel, how'd you figure that out?" She leaned back down, looking over the pedestal with an impressed look.

"It was easy as soon as I noticed what that banner was. See, look." He reached forwards and rubbed away the film of dust and grime coating a banner hanging on the pedestal's base that she hadn't noticed before. Brushed free of any obstructing particles, she could see a neatly stitched rendition of the amulet in fading colors, the thread coming loose and frayed in certain areas.

"It's the same as the amulet." She observed.

"Right?"

"What's the same as the amulet?" Olivia asked, standing from her position on the floor.

"Look for yourself," Axel said, stepping away so she could see the banner herself.

"_You_ found this out, Axel?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes!" He said defensively, "Is that really so weird?"

"No, no, not at all." Olivia held her hands up in a placating manner. "You're just never one to be observant."

"You know what? I bet this is some kind of puzzle," Lukas said, joining the group.

"Yeah well I found it out first so I get the credit." Axel crossed his arms.

"No ones trying to take your discovery away from you, Axel." Jesse reassured. "And I'll bet whatever this is has something to do with those super obvious levers."

"I was wondering what those were." Olivia mumbled thoughtfully.

"Well, should we try them out then?" Lukas asked.

"I don't see anything else we could really do." Jesse said, walking behind the pedestal and stopping in front of the levers. "Well, here goes nothing."

She cranked down the first lever, the redstone torches in between the map and the stacked glass igniting and two of the colored panes lighting up. Upon closer inspection, she could make out glowstone blocks behind each square of glass.

"Oh, I see!" Lukas exclaimed. "We need to pull the levers in a specific order to light up each block!"

Jesse's expression soured. "I hate these kinds of puzzles."

"Then if I may?" He asked, approaching her.

"By all means." She gestured to the levers, stepping out of the way.

It only took about a minute of Lukas fiddling with the levers for all the glass panes to light up. A block of glowstone lit up on the long panel holding the levers, shooting out a condensed light to the amulet's middle. The garnet and emerald lit up, sending out two lights that lit up the map with two dots, red and green.

"Nice, Lukas!" Jesse cried.

"This is absolutely incredible!" Olivia proclaimed, "How did they build this?"

"It looks like some sort of tracking system. I think it's showing us where they are right now. This must be what Gabriel wanted us to see."

"Look, we don't know enough about how this thing works. Maybe the amulet only tracks them when they're on the surface. Or maybe it doesn't work when they're in the Nether. We have to go off what we do know." Lukas said.

"There are only two lights on the map." Jesse observed, "If there are only two heroes left, then we know what we need to do. Petra's relying on us, that wither storm is still out here

"There are only two members of the order left?" Axel repeated.

Jesse approached the map, crossing her arms and looking over the two lights, "He said Soren was missing…"

"That leaves Magnus or Ellegaard." Lukas finished.

"Then let's head out."

Lukas paused, visibly hesitating.

"What is it, Lukas?"

"I can't go with you guys, I have to stay here." He said. "If I know Petra, she's probably doing everything she can to find this place. She's still out there, she has to be."

"But we might need your help out there." Jesse protested.

"Nah, you don't need me. This is where I should be." He smiled at her, "If there's even a small chance she's alive… I _have_ to stay.

Go, get help. I'm gonna focus on making this place safe before nightfall. This temple is pretty big though. If we're gonna have a chance at fortifying it, I'm gonna need some help. If uh… one of you guys could hang back with me?"

"Sounds like Olivia'll have you covered while me and Jesse are out finding Magnus." Axel said.

"'_Finding Magnus?'_ You really think that's how this is going to go?" Olivia sounded doubtful. "We need Ellegaard. She's the world's greatest Engineer. She'll figure out a way to stop that thing."

"We're trying to _destroy_ it, and when it comes to destruction, Magnus is the master." Axel looked to Jesse, an expecting grin on his face, going to stand beneath Magnus' light, "You're a smart person, Jesse, and obviously the _smart_ thing is to go get Magnus."

"I, heh, think Axel mean Ellegaard there, Jesse." Olivia said, going to stand opposite of Axel under Ellegaard's light.

"Uh, no. I don't think I did. Pretty Sure I meant Magnus."

"Jesse, the point is, you should be going to Ellegaard's. It's the clear choice to make."

"You gotta come with _me_, not _her_."

"Think about it, Jesse! You need to make sure we get this right. We're not going to get a second shot at this!"

"Well hey, whatever decision you make, _I'll_ be cool with it."

"Really?" Olivia said, cocking her hip out, stark undertones of sass in her voice.

"As long as It's me." Axel grinned.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you meant." Olivia rolled her eyes.

Jesse looked between the two, then to Lukas who only shrugged helplessly.

"Come on Jesse, this is an easy call—" Olivia tried

"An easy call if you're picking me, that is." Axel cut in.

Jesse massaged her head, "Okay you two! Just, shh! Let me think!"

Explosives made the most sense. It was unorthodox, that's for sure. But could they really use something as simple as that to defeat the wither? I didn't seem likely. They needed something out of the box, something a little more smart, something like...

"Ellegaard. Olivia, you and I are going to Elleaard's"

"_YES!" _Olivia fistbumped the air, jumping in place.

"What? You can't be serious, Jess."

"I'm sorry, Axel. I just think this might be the best. You stay here with Lukas and get ready for when Petra shows up."

"Oh come on! With _that _guy?" He motioned his head to Lukas.

"I thought we were over this."

"Come on, Axel. For Petra's sake." Olivia tried.

Axel kicked at the ground. "Fine, I'll do it. For Petra."

"I'll take it." Jesse smiled, walking up to nudge at Axel with her foot. "Thank you, Axel."

* * *

I realize this is sort of bad compared to previous chapters and im really sorry jkfjhdkjfh like the pacing is really really bad and the second half isnt super good

Anyway. Im thinking about just skipping over redstonia. What do you guys think, would you be okay with that? Lmk so i can get started on the next chapter


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